A New Kind of War
by Dead Bones Sam
Summary: The Crucible has been fired and the galaxy saved. With the threat of war finally over Shepard can finally have a normal peaceful life with his bond mate, but if we know Shepard we know that his life will be anything but normal and peaceful. T with possible M ratings in future.
1. Chapter 1

Epilogue: The Final Battle

They were making a mad dash towards the beam following a convoy of Makos and Hammer heads heading in the same direction more quickly towards the beam. Shepard's progress was stopped as a nearby Reaper blasted a Mako and sent it flying towards him. He stopped just in time as the Mako landed directly in front of him. Shepard looked behind him and took a moment to be relieved at seeing Garrus and Liara still running towards him. His moment of relief didn't last long as another blast from the Reaper sent another Mako over his head and towards his two friends. His heart froze and he was unable to move as he saw the Mako land in front of them, as the Mako toppled over and crashed to the ground the two were able to avoid being hit by the giant machine but were unable to avoid the explosion. Forgetting the beam Shepard turned back and raced towards his friends. As he approached Garrus was able to get up on his own, if not shakily and in obvious pain, while Liara was on the ground and unable to move. Shepard jumped over the fallen remains of the Mako as he bent down to wrap Liara's arm around his neck and half guided half carried her to cover behind the first fallen Mako.

The sound of rushing Makos and Reaper blasters filled the air as Shepard gave the last of the medi-gel to his protesting friends. Shepard couldn't help but shudder at seeing the condition of his closest friends, Liara was covered in wounds, her purple blood spilling from the holes her barriers were unable to block amongst burn marks from the explosion. Garrus had a number of wounds and cuts as well along with his left leg angled in a funny direction. Knowing his friends wouldn't be able to make it with him the rest of the way Shepard connected his comm to the Normandy.

"Normandy! Do you copy? I need an evac. Right now!" Shepard heard a reply coated in static as he barely heard Joker say, "We're taking heavy losses up here, Commander." Shepard cursed as he heard a familiar humming of a ship approaching their location followed by Joker's response of, "On our way, Commander!" Shepard sighed again in relief and sent a silent thanks that Joker was as good a pilot as he bragged he was. As the Normandy lowered from the sky only yards away from their position Shepard grabs Liara again around the waist, placing her arm around him, and lifted her off of the ground.

"Come on." He urged as he carried Liara to the Normandy with Garrus close in tow. As the three run towards the Normandy the hatch is lowered releasing a number of Alliance soldiers running out of the Normandy and towards the beam, a number of the soldiers stayed on the hatch firing at anything hostile that got too close to the ship. As the three got onto the latch Shepard handed a bleeding Liara to Garrus.

"Here, take her." He ordered.

"Shepard," Liara protested as Garrus took the bleeding Asari from Shepard.

"You gotta get out of here," he said his voice full of worry and his blue eyes soft. Liara had seen that expression on his face rarely since the war had begun but knew now wasn't the time to reminisce.

"I'm all right Shepard," she assured though the pain in her expression told him otherwise.

"Don't argue with me, Liara." Shepard said sternly but without any steel in his voice.

"You're not leaving me behind…" she argued as she resisted Garrus's attempts to bring her into the Normandy. Shepard's face changed to one of pain and resentment as he approached Liara.

"No matter what happens-" he started with an audible crack in his voice, "You mean everything to me Liara, You always will." Shepard put a hand on Liara's face and looked into her serene blue eyes, the expression in his eyes changed instantly from one of resentment and pain to one of absolute love as the two stared at each other.

"Shepard I -," she's interrupted by an explosion behind Shepard and while he doesn't look away she can feel him slowly move away, never taking his eyes off of her.

"I am yours," she finally manages as Shepard steps off the hatch and runs towards the beam. Liara struggles to stay on the hatch as long as she can until Shepard is unseen within the mass of foot soldiers and Makos. Finally she relents and allows Garrus to carry her into the Normandy. The Normandy was a hub of action, everyone on their stations and no one taking their eyes off of their screens for a second. The two are instantly met by two medics who take Liara from Garrus and lead the two into the med bay. When they enter the smell of bleeding flesh and decontaminate hits them as they are brought to the only spare bed in the room. Liara lies on the bed much to the urging of Garrus who claimed he was only suffering from minor flesh wounds. As the medics approached Garrus insisted they tend to Liara first claiming that she had more serious wounds to tend to. Liara lied on the bed impatiently as the medic cleaned and treated her wounds along with more injections of medi-gel.

"This isn't right. We should be out there, with him!" Liara yelled as she sent the medics away. "He shouldn't be out there by himself."

"He's not by himself Liara, there are over a hundred men and women with him running to the beam, and he'll make it." Garrus assured her.

"Garrus is right Liara," a familiar voice said. Liara turned her head to see Dr. Chakwas approaching her. As she approached her eyes widened and she gasped inaudibly raising a hand to her mouth.

"Garrus! What are you doing standing? Get into a chair immediately!" Liara turned confused at seeing Karin's outburst but she froze at seeing Garrus's condition. She had been too preoccupied to notice before but his left leg was all but ripped off and was hanging at a dangerous and painful angle. He protested only momentarily as another medic approached with a chair and eased him into it.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Liara asked as she saw Garrus visibly relax after getting weight off his leg.

"This entire planet is on the brink of destruction, getting tackled by a Brute doesn't seem as painful in comparison," he mused simply.

"But- but that was hours ago!" Liara exclaimed shocked that Garrus would willingly suffer for that long.

"It wasn't as bad then and I'd injected medi-gel, there wasn't anything else I could have done,"

"Except tell Shepard before you were out of range of the base site," Dr. Chakwas scorned. "You could have lost your leg Garrus and you still could."

"We're going to lose a lot more than a leg if we don't win this war Dr.," Garrus growled. Karin's expression softened only for a moment before she began instructing the other medics to put a cast around Garrus's leg along with another injection of medi-gel.

"How are we doing?" Garrus asked, the anger gone from his voice and replaced from mild exhaustion.

"_The Reapers are attacking our ships with a brutal and merciless precision; we are surviving but won't be able to take much more punishment. The same can be said about our ground forces."_ EDI replied from over the Normandy's PA.

"Damn," Garrus cursed angrily. "The entire galaxy on our side and the Reapers are still cutting through our defenses." After the medics had casted Garrus's leg he stood up testing the weight and limped towards the med bay door, M-98 Widow in hand.

"Stop the ship, I'll set up a perch somewhere and do my thing."

"Like hell you will," Chakwas said blocking his path to the exit. "You aren't going anywhere Garrus."

"You heard what EDI said Karin, our men are getting killed out there. We need everyone who can hold a gun to shoot at something big and synthetic." As Garrus pushed past Dr. Chakwas towards the door he was stopped abruptly when the door opened revealing Tali in the door way. Tali had been convinced by Engineer Adams to remain on the ship to help keep the power of the Normandy at its peak. When she appeared in the doorway Garrus took a step back surprised and worried at Tali's appearance.

"Tali I-"

"You get tackled by a Brute, shot at by a Reaper and nearly killed by an exploding Mako and you want to go back out their?" she said, it was hard to tell through her mask but it was a good bet that she had been crying.

"Tali listen to me," he was interrupted by a slap from Tali that appeared to surprise everyone in the room.

"No YOU listen to me you bosh'tet," she said sternly. "If you think that I am going to let you get back out their fighting ancestor knows what then you must have taken another rocket to the head." Garrus was about to argue when EDI began speaking over the PA again.

"_I've just received word from Admiral Hackett, a Reaper attacked the entire convoy heading to the Citadel. Currently Shepard and Admiral Anderson are the only ones that made it but it is unknown if they survived, their com links are currently unreachable._"

"Shepard,"Liara said as tears began flowing down her eyes. She began weeping uncontrollably as Karin and Tali went to comfort her, after staring at the women Garrus cursed himself and limped over towards the bridge. When he made it passed the scurrying crew he found Joker and EDI frantically working the controls of the Normandy to avoid enemy fire. As he approached neither of them turned to look at him but Joker had apparently heard him coming.

"What's the matter run out of ammo and lose your stick?" he chided not taking his eyes off of the screen before him.

"How are our guys holding up?" Garrus asked, abandoning his usual choice of banter.

"There holding but from what I can tell there taking a hell of a beating out there." Joker replied morbidly. "Hopefully Shepard will be able to work the Crucible, otherwise it's going to end up being a really short war." Garrus didn't reply and just looked at the screen as he watched Joker avoid and destroy and oncoming Reaper ship.

_Damn it Shepard,_ Garrus thought to himself, _I hope you fire that thing off soon. Otherwise there may not be anyone in the galaxy left to save._

_Somewhere in the trenches on London's borders_

They never stopped coming. For every Reaper Kaidan and his squad had taken down three more appeared to take their place. He was lucky that he ended up running into Major Kirrahe and his platoon of STG agents. Kaidan and several of his students had been forced into cover by a group of Marauders and were doing very little to fight back. Two people took turns keeping barriers up while the others would fight back firing their guns and detonating biotic explosions, unfortunately it seemed inevitable that they would be over run. It was then that Kirrahe and his men were able to flank the Reaper forces and relieve the pressure off the biotics allowing them to finish them off with ease. With the last of the Marauders gone Kaidan gets up from his cover and approaches the Major. Kirrahe takes out his Scorpion pistol and fires a round into the heads of the Marauders at his feet. As he turns around and holsters his gun he smiles when he sees Kaidan approaching.

"Boy am I glad to see you guys," Kaidan exclaimed holding out his hand. Kirrahe took it and shook it quickly before the two majors began walking under a building for cover.

"I can assume so, glad to see you're alright Major, lose anyone?" Kirrahe asked.

"Nah, we took a couple of shots but everyone is still standing." Kaidan replied.

"Good to hear, I just received word from my associate Padok Wiks, a few people managed to make it to the Citadel."

"Did he know who?" Kaidan asked anxiously. Kirrahe shook his head.

"No he didn't but I think we can both assume that Commander Shepard managed to make it,"

"I hope so, if anyone can get the Crucible activated it's him," Kaidan said confidently.

"Agreed, but on the off chance the people who made it die up there my team and I are heading to the beam. I believe it's safe to assume that your squad will be joining us? It would be beneficial for both of us: you for an increase in numbers and us for the biotic assistance." Kaidan nodded in agreement.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Turning to his men he rallies them up and the two forces combine and make way towards the beam. According to Kirrahe's Omni tool they were still at least 10 miles away from the beam, so they started running towards its general direction. As the soldiers ran Kaidan couldn't help but admire the Salarian's endurance and speed, he remembered fighting with Kirrahe's team on Virmire and he was surprised to see such fighting skill in Salarians, he never understood why they were always credited for being just scientists and doctors. Unfortunately Kaidan would be seeing the Salarians skill in combat all too quickly. After running a fair distance Kirrahe stopped running and motioned for his men to take cover behind the remains of a fallen building. As they take cover Kaidan risks a glance over to see who was there. The way across was blocked by two Brutes and at least a dozen of both Marauders and Cannibals along with a number of Husks walking the way. Kirrahe then gestures to Kaidan and signs to him a command he learned back in Alliance training.

_Biotic Detonations_

Signaling to his own men Kaidan and his students prepped themselves for the detonations. Kaidan waited for the perfect moment to strike, and his students knew to wait for their old mentor to make the first move. Finally after several minutes of waiting Kaidan launches an overload at a group of Marauders, as soon as it hit the first one destroying its shields it branched out and hit several other weakening their shields greatly. Before the Reapers had a chance to react the other men from Kaidan's unit made their move, as soon as the overload had hit three of his men threw singularities while Kaidan and the other two men launched warps at the now floating Reapers. While their cover was now blown they had taken out most of the opposing infantry, unfortunately both of the Brutes were still standing.

"Men take them down!" Kirrahe ordered, his fellow STG members began opening fire upon the Brutes and the remaining other Reapers before them. While the surviving Marauders and Cannibals took cover and began firing the husks and Brutes began advancing towards the group.

"Take out those Brutes!" Kaidan yelled to his students. The biotics spread out and surrounded the two Brutes from spread out spots of cover; they then began firing warp blasts and reave in Kaidan's case in attempts to take out the Brutes. As the Brutes were hammered bioticaly it wasn't long until the Salarian group began firing on the Brutes as well. It was then that two separate Cobra missiles were fired at the two Brutes dropping them instantly to the ground. Kaidan turned to see Kirrahe and his second in command Rentola both holding the expended missile launchers. Kaidan smiled and was about to thank the Salarians when an ear splitting roar came from the sky. Kaidan looked up to see a giant monster flying above them and aiming down.

"Harvester!" A Salarian yelled as everyone went to dive for cover. The Harvester circled above the group and began firing projectiles at the two teams. They were shielded from the cover but the moment that it shot at the buildings they would be in plain sight.

"How do we kill that thing?" Kaidan yelled over the sound of exploding missiles all around them.

"Impossible as long as it's in the sky!" Kirrahe shouted. "Biotics won't reach it and not enough snipers to cause any real damage," To prove his point a handful of the Salarian operatives took out Viper sniper Rifles and began firing at the Harvester.

"Any Cobra Missiles left?" Kaidan asked as a blast came close to destroying half of his squad.

"Only one left, but chances of hitting it from down here are unlikely. We need to force it to the ground!" Kirrahe shouted. As if to answer their prayers the Harvester roared and flew extremely low to the ground dropping a group of Husks and Cannibals down in the middle of the group. Moments later it then landed on the ground meters away from the dropped Reapers. Kaidan's students set up a group of barriers preventing the Reapers from hitting any of the Salarians as they leveled the minor Reaper forces. The Harvester than began an onslaught of missiles as it fired relentlessly at the Salarians behind the barriers. As the missiles hit the barriers Kaidan's students fell to the ground from the force of the attacks forcing them to the ground.

"Someone fire at that thing!" Kirrahe shouted as he and several other operatives threw Decoys in front of the Harvester. The Harvester was distracted by the sudden appearance of random Salarians for only a moment, and fortunately that's just what the third party was waiting for.

"ARALAKH COMPANY MOVE IN!" From atop the buildings the Salarians and Kaidan's men were sheltered beneath a group of Krogan leapt from the roofs of the buildings and landed on the Harvester. Kaidan looked up at the sight and was surprised (and immensely relieved) to see Grunt amongst the other Krogan jumping the Harvester. As they landed the group of them began firing round after round of shot gun shells into the Reaper's back causing it to wail out in pain. In a moment of power Grunt rushed up the neck of the Harvester and leapt into the mouth of the beast while it howled in pain. Firing what appeared to be a grenade launcher Grunt emptied the clip into the Harvester before jumping out in time as the creatures head and innards exploded killing the beast instantly.

"YES! That was AWESOME!" Grunt shouted as he got up covered in blood and organs. He turned back to his men on the Harvester and yelled, "Make sure to take off its wing, it'll make for an impressive trophy!" As Grunt turned around he finally noticed Kaidan and the others as they approached him warily.

"Heh I was wondering what got the Harvester to fall to the ground, guess it's lucky it didn't kill you guys huh?" Grunt said leering slightly.

"It would appear so," Kirrahe said cautiously. Before another word was said the sky changed color to an intense shade of red. As the group looked up one of the Salarians pointed up and shouted, "Someone managed to activate the crucible!"

"The what?" Grunt yelled back towards the Salarian that shouted it.

"It's the weapon we've been working on to destroy the Reapers Grunt," Kaidan explained.

"So… there won't be any more Reapers to kill?" Grunt asked almost sadly.

"That's the plan." Turning back to Aralakh Company Grunt cocked his Claymore and shouted,

"HEY, the Reapers will all be destroyed soon, hurry up and get that wing! I want another 30 kills before there all dead!"

_Outskirts of the beam 30 minutes earlier_

The group of Krogan lead by Wrex followed by James, Javik and Zaeed were making a mad rush for the beam. The only cover that was around were the remains of destroyed Mako and Hammer Heads, the only thing between them and the beam was an entire army of Brutes and Ravagers surrounded by hundreds of Husks.

"I can't remember the last time I had so much fun!" Wrex cheered as he threw a number of Lift grenades at the progressing enemies. Javik had just finished off a Ravager that got to close and said, "You believe that fighting for our lives against impossible odds to be fun?"

"Hell yeah! It's the Rachni Wars all over again." Javik scowled as he infected a nearby Brute with Dark Channel.

"Had you been around in my cycle my people would have ridiculed you for your reckless pleasantries."

"Then I guess the Protheans didn't have all that much fun huh?" Wrex chided as he ripped a husk in half and detonated a biotic explosion on the Brute Javik had infected.

"How about a little less arguing and a LITTLE MORE KILLING REAPERS!" James yelled as he carved through several Husks with his Omni blade.

"Oi! Less bitching and more killing Husks! We're burning moonlight!" Zaeed scolded as he razed an entire group of Husks and a Brute with a fistful of Inferno Grenades. They were pinned down and unable to advance due to the far reaching missiles of the Ravagers. The group was eventually forced to a standstill taking cover as the Reapers slowly moved in on them. One Krogan who turned the corner to fire a shot was immediately killed due to a Ravager blast to the face.

"We can't keep this up much longer! Those sodding Rachni are destroying us!" Zaeed shouted as He managed to headshot a Brute with his Mantis.

"Gaahh Shepard kills two Rachni Queens and we still have to deal with them." Wrex moaned as he floated a group of Husks with a Singularity. They continued firing as the Reapers still managed to close in on the now shrinking group. Suddenly a speeding ship flew ahead dropping something in an arch shape in front of them.

"Great now they have back up!" James moaned. Javik however shook his head as he took a sniff of the air.

"No, these are not enemy synthetics." Before anyone could ask what he meant a flash of green went off in front of them. Turning from around the cover the dwindled group was shocked as they saw a group of Geth led by a Prime wiping out the Reapers before them. As a group of Infiltrators was dealing with a nearby Brute the Prime approached the group with a sense of confidence.

"We have come to provide ground support; I hope you were not under fire for too long a period." As the Prime spoke the group had mixed reactions; Javik sneered at the AI who had saved them, as a result of his experience with them in his cycle while James and Zaeed sighed in relief.

"HA, never thought I'd be giving thanks to a Geth. Here to lead us to the Beam boys?" Wrex asked confidently as he reloaded his Claymore.

"Negative, the unit known as EDI has informed us that Shepard Commander has made it to the Citadel. We are to insure nothing happens to hinder his mission."

"What? You're pulling us out of the fight? That's a load of shit if I ever heard one!" Zaeed cursed as he shoved a medi-gel needle into his arm. At that moment a number of high pitched screams went off from behind.

"I think you spoke to soon old man," James said warily as he reloaded his Claymore. From the way they came four banshees were making their way toward the citadel followed by a horde of Marauders and Cannibals already opening fire. Out of nowhere two Geth Infiltrators appeared in front of the group and brought up two large shields that managed to protect everyone from the oncoming fire.

"I guess it's a damn good thing you're on our side than eh?" Zaeed back as he grabbed a grenade from his belt. The Prime ignored the compliment and pulled out a Plasma Rifle that had been holstered on his back.

"Warning, Geth shields will not hold from consecutive Banshee biotic strikes. Requesting immediate removal."

"I do not take orders from a synthetic," Javik snarled as he primed his Particle Rifle.

"I did not mean to give you an order, it was a requested suggestion." The Prime said apologetically.

"Hey do you Pyjaks want to kiss and, make up later?" Wrex said seriously. Turning to the remaining Krogan he said, "Alright you heard the giant robot, focus your fire on the ugly Asari looking things. Bonus points for collateral damage." As the Krogan laughed as they began cocking their weapons Javik formed a barrier around himself.

"I will move in close, humans cover me." Before James or Zaeed could respond or object Javik leapt from behind the Geth's barrier and made a rush for the closest Banshee. As he ran James and Zaeed were able to snipe down any Marauder or Cannibal that would have had a shot at him, and any that they missed Javik instantly sent flying with a biotic throw. As he approached the first Banshee he was forced to duck and slide as it swung to grab him, he managed to survive as he slid between her legs and sending a Dark Channel at her from below. As she recoiled from the attack weakening her Javik had enough time to cool down and throw a green hued warp at the Banshee. As the Banshee fell to one knee from the impact it was soon taking fire from a trio of Geth soldiers who were firing upon it from out of her range.

Javik then turned and fired his Particle Rifle at full power at the second closest Banshee causing it to flail and resist the blast. Javik could feel enemy fire make contact with his barrier but he kept contact with his attack never faltering. As his weapon ceased firing in order to cool down Javik sent another warp at the Banshee leveling it. As that Banshee fell defeated Javik also dropped to a knee, the energy taken to maintain the barrier finally catching up to him. As a horde of Marauders and Cannibals approached and aimed at the Prothean Javik pulled out his M-6 Carnifex planning to drop as many Reapers as he could before being killed. As the Reapers fired at the Prothean Javik was surprised when a large Biotic Barrier appeared around him out of nowhere. He turned around to see who it was, and was shocked when he saw the only other Biotic, Wrex, busy using a husk as a nun chuck against a Marauder.

"I thank the Goddess for allowing me to be here in time to protect one of her children." Javik looked up and was surprised to see the Asari Justicar Samara slowly floating to the ground beside him.

"Justicar," he said trying not to sound ungrateful.

"Rest for the moment, I will handle our enemy." With a raise of her glowing hand Samara sent a shockwave of energy that seemed to pulse from the barrier and send flying all the minor Reaper forces, leaving the remaining Banshees to recoil from the attack.

"You are very powerful Justicar, were your order alive in my cycle I feel the end of my people may have been prolonged," Javik complimented honestly.

"Thank you Javik, but I'm afraid that this isn't the time for compliments."

"Agreed," Javik said reclaiming his Particle Rifle. "Let us end this." As Samara lowered her Barrier she sent another fury of shockwaves upon the Reapers leveling the field of corpses and weakened enemies, while Javik fired at everything in the air that moved insuring that they wouldn't get up once they hit the ground. The remaining Krogan and Wrex were finishing off the last of the cannibals when Javik felt himself jerked up from the ground. He was then brought face to face by the ugly face of a Banshee. As it stared into Javik's face screaming the Prime from earlier moved in and fired at the Banshee's head causing it to drop Javik in surprise. In retaliation the banshee sent the Prime flying with a Biotic warp throwing it into Wrex and his team; it then turned back to Javik's form on the ground. Javik tried to defend himself with a weak warp, exhausted still from his use of biotics earlier, but it was easily batted aside as the Banshee reached down for Javik. Before Javik knew what happened there was an explosion of biotic energy before him causing Javik to shield his eyes from the light. When the light finally dimmed enough for him to see he was stunned to see Samara's form on the ground with a giant hole through her chest, the Banshee above her screeching in victory. Feeling a sense of anger he had not felt since he learned he'd be the only Prothean put into stasis Javik leapt from the ground and rushed the Banshee. Forgoing his Particle Rifle Javik fired furiously at the Banshee until its barriers were depleted. Then, with the last of Javik's biotic energy, he forced his fingers into the Reaper's chest and ripped it in two. As the Banshee fell dead Javik stumbled over to the limp form of Samara.

As he fell to the ground beside the Justicar he was surprised to see that she was still breathing.

"That was very foolish," Samara chided calmly. For some reason Javik did not feel worthy enough to look into her eyes.

"You should not have intervened," Javik said absently. Samara laughed weakly as she moved her hand under Javik's chin to force him to look her in the eyes. Although she lied there dying Samara still had the strong look of a Justicar as her eyes continued to shine radiantly.

"The Goddess does not wish her children to throw away their lives without meaning, and she told me that it was not yet your time to die."

"You are wrong, I should have died with the rest of my people." Javik argued. Samara shook her head slightly.

"No Javik, you were brought to this cycle for a reason, and I can only hope that it is deserving of such a proud warrior," and with her final words Samara the Justicar had breathed her last breath. Javik couldn't move as he continued to stare at Samara's limp corpse. He closed his eyes to calm himself when he heard worried shouts coming from the group. He turned to see nearly all of the Geth platforms shaking and sparking violently and then almost on cue a bright red light filled the sky as it quickly approached the Earth from space.

"_Warning_," the Geth Prime Platform stated in a deep worried sounding tone. "_Warning Reaper code upgrade hindering operating systems- software and hardware failing. Reverting to former consensus programing until new data acquired."_ At the end of the warning all of the Geth units stopped moving and shaking and fell to the ground lying limp.

"The hell just happened to Jarvis?" Zaeed asked holstering his Assault Rifle. After several moments of confusion The Geth Prime unit repowered up and stood up as if nothing had happened.

"You want to explain what just happened?" Wrex asked as he approached the recovered Prime.

"A signal was fired from the Crucible to kill all Reaper enemies in every Galaxy and system, to refrain from the Geth being destroyed due to our Reaper upgrades we have reverted back to our former use of storing multiple programs in one platform.

"So you have more Geth in you?" James asked confused.

"Correct. There are currently 2,387 programs in this platform, many more are now being transferred to nearby Prime units and lesser platforms." As if on cue a number of the soldier and infiltrator platforms begin to power up and regain their position.

"So what's the difference now than when you had the Reaper upgrades?" James asked still confused by the logic.

"Our original programming makes us more advanced when numerous Geth programs are within proximity of each other, a hundred programs approximately would be put into a single lesser platform to give it basic skills. The more of us in an area the more intelligent we are, the Reaper upgrades made every single Geth program an individual perfect AI."

"Were you able to save all your programs?" Zaeed asked nonchalantly. The Prime unit's head flaps moved in thought before finally responding saying, "Yes, no Geth programs were eradicated by the purge. However a number of platforms have been destroyed. Stray programs are being grouped into mobile platforms and our main collective hub on Rannoch." Another soldier Geth stood up as the red light finally reached Earth and engulfed it. It did no damage to the organic or Geth life in the proximity but as the light hit the Reaper forces they dropped instantly. As the light spread cheers could be heard from nearby spreading throughout the city and eventually all of Earth. The Krogan began firing off their weapons in celebration while James and Zaeed shook hands and cheered. The minor Geth programs were beeping and wiring to one another while the Prime spoke to them in the same manner. Javik looked up to the source of the red light, the Crucible, watching as it fell apart at the tremendous amount of pressure it was releasing to destroy the Reapers. As he watched Javik felt a tremendous burden lifted from his shoulders.

"It is finally over," the Prothean said tears forming at each of his eyes. His 50,000 year with the Reapers had finally come to an end, but there was something that crossed his mind as he watched pieces of the crucible fall towards Earth miles away from their location.

"Synthetic what is the condition of the Commander? Did the Normandy collect him from the Citadel?" The Prime unit looked up towards the sky and after a few moments looked down towards Javik.

"We are unsure; our attempts to reach the Normandy's AI have failed."

"Did the Commander even make it off the Citadel then?" Javik demanded almost shouting at the Geth. The others stopped celebrating after hearing Javik's worries about the Commander.

"No data available at this time," The Prime said regretfully. Javik looked back up to the sky to the falling debris of the Crucible and while numerous thoughts crossed his mind only one stood made any sense to the Prothean.

_The Commander must be found, the Avatar of this cycle must not be killed._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: The Lost Hero

"Are you sure that's all they found?" Liara asked desperately to one of her limited contacts in the Sol Relay. With the Mass Relay currently malfunctioning it was difficult for her to get in touch with her contacts in different systems. Fortunately a few of her resources were sent to Earth to help take place in the war while Feron, who she had direct contact with, was in another System sending her what updates he could.

"_Yes Shadow Broker, my team searched the entire area. All we could find were some dead Reaper troops along with a few dead Keepers. Other than that there's been no sight of any survivors."_

"Keep searching Varel, inform me if you find anyone. Shadow Broker out." Liara ended the call and had to calm herself before she broke into tears again. It had been over a week since the Crucible had gone off destroying every Reaper in at least the Sol System along with several other systems Feron was able to confirm destruction of the Reapers. It seemed that the Reapers had been completely eradicated. Giant remains of Reaper ships and corpses littered the ground and in space around the Earth and other planets in the system. Once it was confirmed that the Reapers had been destroyed and the Crucible destroyed after use. Liara instantly panicked at losing contact with John moments before the Crucible was destroyed in its use and immediately went to the nearest crash site to search for him. When she didn't find him she sent every and all of her contacts to search the crash area of the Crucible. While her determination to save Shepard evidently saved the lives of countless people Shepard was still nowhere to be found. If it wasn't for the fact that Garrus was keeping her in check she would be out looking for Shepard with the other Alliance soldiers scouting the area for him.

_Hours earlier_

"_I have to find him, I can't just sit here knowing that he's out there somewhere!" Garrus got up from the chair he was sitting in and with the aid of his crutch walks close to Liara._

"_Liara look I know how you're feeling right now and trust me I've got the Primarch sending every spare man he can to look for him. Along with that you have Asari commandos, Salarian STG agents, Krogan mercs Drell assassins and several Elcor looking for him as we speak, we'll find him Liara you just have to have faith."_

Liara had promised to stay aboard the Normandy for the time being at least and help coordinate giving the other races places to stay until they could get the Relays working again. Most of the races stayed grouped together in the few buildings that weren't completely destroyed and while it hadn't become brought to light yet a few people were beginning to worry how they were going to feed everyone. The Quarians had a sufficient amount of Dextro based food that would easily supply them and the Turians for a sufficient amount of time but the other Levo based species would have to survive off of Earth's resources much to the dismay of some of the people there. Liara took it upon herself to send what resources she did have in the Sol System to the alien races in hope to keep tensions off of the other species, but even that would only last for so long. They would have to hope that the Quarians and remaining Geth units would be able to repair the Mass Relay so they could at the very least travel to another system. She knew that the Quarians considered sending the Geth off to another system using their advanced FTL travel, but knew that even if they could manage to get far enough into another system it would be a one way trip unless they could repair a Relay.

Liara sighed as she continued going through mind numbing work to try to get her mind off of finding Shepard. Her contacts had sent her information that while the Crucible had been destroyed after its use the Citadel itself was badly damaged and floated motionlessly in Earth's gravitational pull. The Geth were busy making immediate and necessary repairs to it while the council sent in recon teams to scout the structure and to look for any survivors. The Council had managed to survive the war by remaining in the Destiny Ascension, she was certain that they would eventually come to Earth to make a public appearance but knew that they would wait until news of Shepard was brought to them.

_Shepard_

Liara could feel the fear and despair creeping back to her at the thought of losing Shepard and struggled to keep her composure. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on her work, there were reports coming in that the mercenaries Aria had sent to help in the war efforts were becoming restless and were planning on raiding numerous resource stations in London to make them go through the group for supplies in the area. Liara was assigning one of her contacts in the Eclipse group to delay their plans and to warn her if things got bad, she also assigned a group of Asari commandos to tail the group leaders and to strike if anything happened. She also sent any tech and engineering resources she had to the Flotilla in hopes to aid them in repairing the Relay. It was fortunate that the Quarians and Geth were working so diligently, Liara's reports stated that after the Crucible fired most of the damage caused to the Charon Relay was it being completely burned out after its connection with the Crucible. Most of the main parts of the Relay were reported scorched, over used and barely held together. Thankfully the Quarians were very experienced in keeping badly damaged ships and tech running due to the Migrant Fleet being made up of mostly old and falling apart ships.

It was also convenient that they had sent over only the best of their ships to help fight in the war which was an impressive amount in itself while the more aged ships and civilian fleets stayed in the Tikkun system orbiting Rannoch, hopefully what Quarians remained on their home world would be working on repairing the Relay in their system. As Liara dutifully sifted through her limited contacts Glyph began humming as he floated towards Liara, flashing his center sector as he moved.

"_Dr. T'soni I have received several messages from several of your contacts in the Sol system and a report from Feron, which message would you like me to replay for you first?"_

"Show me Feron's message first," Liara said distractedly as she continued scrolling down her terminals list of available resources.

"_Of course Dr. T'soni, playing back message: _

'_Liara, your contacts in several systems have just set up direct contact links with our terminals. Apparently now that the Reapers have been defeated numerous indoctrinated targets have been dropping dead, apparently without the Reapers whatever was keeping them under their control killed them. I've also been getting lists of people who sided with Cerberus throughout the war and who deliberately betrayed their governments for various reasons. Most of them are petty governors or rich philanthropists, but the most well-known and powerful of the traitors is Dalatrass Linron. One of our sources in STG reported that after you and the Commander successfully saved the female Krogan Bakara that it was the Dalatrass herself who had warned Cerberus. _

_Once it was clear the Genophage cure wasn't sabotaged she was found out by STG and forced into hiding, it is unknown whether she was indoctrinated or not but she has lost her rights as the leader of Sur'kesh and the planet is currently under Martial Law. I'm sending progress reports on repairs on planets our contacts can get ahold of, I'll send more as soon as I can. Feron out.'"_

Liara accessed the reports on her terminal and skimmed through all the data; the planets were using most of their resources to rebuild their nations and to fix the Relays in their areas. There were also rumored locations of the former Dalatrass hiding on one of several Salarian colonized worlds. She knew that Wrex would want to know about the Dalatrass but deemed there would be a time to tell him after the Relays were fixed, there wasn't any point in giving him the news knowing he'd be furious and unable to act on it. After going through the rest of the data she asked Glyph to read off the rest of her reports.

"_Of course Dr. T'soni: The Alliance has been recruiting what available soldiers they have to act as a make shift law enforcement act to keep things civil in the area. With the amount of soldiers able to be spared there are few patrols going on at the moment, however STG members and Krogan have volunteered to help in the security detail._

_A number of the Salarian STG operatives have offered their services as medics greatly helping the hospitals in the area. The four hospitals in the area are all over filled in capacity and are severely understaffed even with the Salarian's aid. Anyone with medical experience is being requested to volunteer. However thanks to your donations to the hospital they will have enough supplies to last for months."_

"Is there any word on the Blood Pack, Eclipse or Blue Suns making a move against the supply warehouses?" Liara asked.

"_No, and your contact Darian has convinced Sayn that to do so would be foolish to due to the mercenaries decreased numbers."_

"Very good Glyph is there anything else?" Glyph continued going on about resources, financial records of the Alliance for funding the war and the welfare of the leaders among the other races. Wrex was in the trenches insuring that his men stayed in line and that there wasn't any fighting between the other races. Primarch Victus and Garrus were busy coordinating the Turians on Earth and trying to get their communications to reach to Palaven. Major Kirrahe was the unofficial leader of the Salarians on Earth and he had ordered any with medical skill to aid in the hospitals while the others assisted the Turians in reaching planets outside the system or as security. The Asari were out in the streets using their biotics to try and clear the roads of debris and corpses while also looking for survivors. Most of the other races: the Hanar, Drell, Volus and Elcor remained on their ships in space uneasy about staying on Earth with the Krogan and Turians leering at each other. The Admirals of the Quarian race had ordered every able bodied Quarian on the fleet to work on repairs on the Relay, Tali remained on Earth acting as the Ambassador of her species while the others stayed with the fleet. The Geth were split in half: one part working on the Citadel and the Relay while the other half remained on Earth doing their best to repair buildings and important structures. Liara could see that the Geth would be a valued asset in repairing the Galaxy. She began to ignore the further ramblings of Glyph's report until it said something that made her freeze.

"Glyph can you repeat that last message for me please?" she asked shakily

"_Of course Dr. T'soni, Admiral Hackett of the Alliance sent you a personal message that if you have the time to meet him at the London Hills Hospital when you are available. He is currently residing in the Head Administrations room at the Hospital, Dr., where are you running off to?" _As soon as Glyph had mentioned where Hackett was Liara bound out of her room immediately heading for the elevator. As soon as she reached the door it opened abruptly revealing Joker and Tali talking in hushed tones. When they noticed Liara they stopped talking to look at Liara's anxious expression.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Joker asked in his usual joking manner.

"I got a message from Admiral Hackett; he said that he wanted to meet with me."

"Did he have any news on Shepard?" Tali asked immediately, Joker's expression changed to a more serious one.

"He didn't say I was just heading out to meet with him now."

"I wouldn't keep him waiting then, when Hackett wants you for something it's normally a pretty big deal," Joker said trying to lessen the tension everyone was feeling.

"Thanks Joker I'll take your advice on that, would you two like to come with me?"

"No thanks Liara, Joker wants me to take a look at EDI's blue box, see if we can find out what caused her sudden malfunction." At the AI's name Joker looked down and Liara knew that Joker was immensely worried about EDI's condition. Putting a supportive hand on Joker's shoulder she said in as comforting a tone as she could, "Keep me posted ok?" Joker nodded as the two walked past her and to the med-bay. Liara then takes the elevator to the shuttle bay preparing to disembark to the hospital. Not knowing her way around London Liara asked the help of one of the Alliance soldiers outside the Normandy to give her directions. Instead he was kind enough to lead her to the hospital. As the two walked Liara couldn't help but notice how tense everything was between everyone. The most hostility was centered from the Turians and Salarians aimed at the Krogan, many of them still believed it was wrong to cure the Genophage and that the Krogan would eventually bring another Rebellion to the galaxy. Surprisingly though the Krogan did not get angry at them and threaten them back but silently took it and walked away, being the bigger person. Liara was worried, and also interested, in what would happen once the Relays were repaired.

The soldier led Liara to the doorway to the Hospital and then ran back to his post, the moment Liara walked into the hospital she was overcome by the smell of blood, disinfectant and corpses. In what she assumed was a waiting area there were many people lying on stretchers with only one doctor to every 10 wounded soldier. The doctors were doing their best to treat everyone but as soon as they had treated one person there were dozens ready to take their place. Liara walked carefully through the room and to the directory to get directions to the office Hackett was staying in. Once she found the location on the map she quickly walked the way to the office and rapped on the door several times.

"Come in," a strong, tired voice said from within. When Liara opened the door and walked in she found the Admiral sitting behind the desk of whomever the Head Administrator and had numerous data pads scattered on the desk. He was wearing his Alliance blues but had forgone the jacket and cap, he had bags under his eyes and Liara was worried he wasn't getting much sleep.

"Ah Dr. T'soni, please have a seat, forgive me I just need to finish this." As Liara sat down Hackett quickly browsed through the last bit of data on the data pad and with a sigh threw it into the smaller pile of data pads on his desk.

"Forgive me I've been reading reports for the past four days straight, how have you been holding up?" he asked kindly.

"I've been better Admiral, is there a reason why you wanted to see me?" Liara asked impatiently. Hackett nodded and got up momentarily to shut the door behind Liara when he got back in his seat on the other side of the desk he had a grim look in his eyes that scared Liara, the way he looked didn't prepare her for what he was about to say.

"We have him," Liara felt her body freeze as the words ran through her mind like a constant buzzing that wouldn't go away.

"Where is he?" she asked her voice barely above a whisper.

"He's here in the hospital; he was in pretty rough shape when we found him."

"How bad is it?" Liara asked near trembling.

"Bad. If he wasn't wearing his dog tags we never would have known that it was him."

"Can I see him?" Liara asked desperately.

"Yes, but I have to warn you Liara I can't even begin to explain how bad he is. The doctors are saying it would take a miracle for him to come out of it."

"Is it really that bad?" Liara asked.

"Yes, probably worse." Hackett said sighing, pulling out a data pad from one of the desk drawers. "He's currently comatose which isn't surprising, he's also suffering from severe third and fourth degree burns all over his body and his organs are extremely weak and are only kept functional through the aid of several machines; the list goes on and on. I can't even say what half of the infections on this list are; do you still want to see him?" Liara nodded and Hackett got up from his seat and led Liara out of the office and up a series of stairs across the hall. Once they made it to the next floor Liara noticed that there were a significant amount of guards on this floor and not nearly as many patients. Hackett never gave her a chance to question this as they quickly made their way to a door guarded by two large Alliance officers. As the two approached the guards they both immediately straightened and saluted the Admiral, in which he returned as he walked past them with Liara on his heel. When they entered the room it revealed a large room with a glass wall hinting that there was something to be seen on the other side. Feeling her heart race Liara nearly ran to the glass only to be stopped by Hackett who grabbed her arm before she made it to the glass. When Liara turned back to Hackett to question his actions she realized the worried look on the man's face.

"Dr. T'soni I want you to brace yourself, what your about to see won't be easy." Loosening his grip on Liara she immediately slipped out of his grasp and went to the glass wall. As she approached she noticed that the room the glass allowed her to look into was lower down. As she lowered her gaze she saw several doctors wearing fully equipped clean suits and helmets that allowed them to operate on fragile patients. She could tell several of them were different races due to them having three fingers. As one of the doctors moved away from the table, a Salarian Liara guessed, her heart stopped as she stared at the near charred body on the table.

_John,_ she thought to herself trembling at the sight of her bond mate. Hackett's warning had done nothing to prepare her and she struggled not to fall to the ground in anguish. Shepard's body was severely burned with light patches of skins covering some of the burned areas, he was also attached to several machines as Hackett had warned her and three IVS were connected to his arms and his neck. His skin in some places was so bad that there were holes in his body where they could see his organs, which were badly blackened from what she could tell. Liara didn't hear the door leading into the room open, as the doctor removed his helmet and mask he walked quickly and quietly over to Admiral Hackett.

"What's his condition?" Hackett asked quietly.

"It's worse than we thought," a high pitched voice said sadly. From his voice Liara could tell that the doctor was a Salarian. "The burns managed to affect a number of his organs, we're treating him with a number of different medicines but there's a good chance that at the rate he's deteriorating he'll die from an overdose on the drugs." The Salarian handed Hackett a data pad with Shepard's recent medical history which he read off to get confrontation from the doctor.

"Broken bones?"

"All but one of his ribs and it was fractured badly. His legs and arms are badly bruised and fractured and his tail bone is nearly shattered. We were able to keep the internal injuries minimal but, well, even here minimal is astronomical."

"And his organs?"

"All on the verge of failing I'm afraid. He's stable for now but I don't know how long we can keep it that way."

"What about his brain activity?" Hackett asked.

"Fortunately there is nothing wrong with his brain," the doctor said optimistically. "Whatever Cerberus did to him last year definitely did the trick in reviving his body but if they had altered the brain with cybernetics as well he'd be dead." After a moment of silence Liara could hear the Salarian whisper something to Hackett.

"Who's the Asari?" he asked questioningly.

"His bond mate, Liara T'soni." Hackett answered defensively.

"Ahh, I see." The Salarian walked towards Liara and put a gentle hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Dr. T'soni?" he said gently. Liara turned around hesitantly and reluctantly to see a young looking Salarian looking down at her.

"Dr. T'soni my name is Maelon Heplorn. I can't tell you how sorry I am about the Commander."

"He isn't dead yet doctor," Liara said defensively not wanting to look Maelon in the eye.

"Of course, and I assure you that I'm doing all I can to keep Shepard alive. I owe him that much anyways." Liara had to think for a moment on where she had heard Maelon's name before when it finally hit her. A group of Blood Pack mercs had paid her to look into him back when she was just an information broker on Illium.

"You were Mordin's student, the one who had worked on a cure for the Genophage." He nodded and smiled sadly.

"Yes, back when Shepard and Professor Solus found me on Tuchanka he prevented the professor from killing me. He saved my life in more ways than one; I hope I can return the favor."

"Is there any chance that I can- I can," Liara wasn't able to finish her sentence without breaking out into tears but Maelon seemed to have gotten the message. He turned to Admiral Hackett and when he didn't say anything against it Maelon gestured to the door.

"You'll need to put on one of the suits and a mask; we need to keep the room clean and to prevent any outside bacteria into the room." As he lead Liara threw the door they stopped before the next door so she could pull on a suit and mask and to wait for the decontamination system in the room to finish.

"I'm close with one of the Quarian Admirals, I can have a crate of disinfectant sent over if that would help," Liara suggested helpfully.

"There won't be any need," Maelon noted as the decontamination system ended. "We already acquired everything we could spare from them for medical purposes." As the light turned green Maelon lead Liara into the clean room and toward Shepard's body. He was even worse up close; Liara could see all the internal bleeding and shattered bones through the holes in his burned flesh along with cuts and scars running along his body. His face was badly cut up and scarred and Liara had to resist the urge to embrace the body and shake Shepard awake. Maelon sensed Liara's despair and did his best to comfort the worried Asari.

"I assure you, we're doing everything in our power to help him. I'm here almost constantly and there are three other doctors in the room on a roster to insure someone's always with him."

"Can the doctors be trusted?" Liara demanded immediately? Maelon nodded.

"All were looked into by Admiral Hackett, the doctors can be trusted." Liara looked back at Shepard and had to will herself to look away again.

"Will I be able to see him again?" Liara asked carefully.

"I'm sure Admiral Hackett will allow you in the observation room whenever you like, as for down here _with _him… I think an hour or so every few days would be alright."

"Thank you Maelon," Liara said sincerely as tears began forming at her eyes. She let Maelon lead her out of the room but as they left Liara couldn't help but toss a final glance over Shepard's way, and as crazy as it sounded to her she thought that she recognized the faintest hints of a smile on Shepard's face.

AN: Hey thanks for reading everyone, Forgive me for using such plain terms I don't claim to be a medical expert but I did some research and hopefully it wasn't too bad. Please review and give me some feedback and I'll work to have the next chapter up ASAP.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2 The Attack

Garrus was limping through the street with Grunt and Kaidan with him as they searched the city and it's outskirts for signs of Shepard. Garrus had made Liara promise to take it easy on her search for Shepard but he'd be damned if he didn't give it his all looking for him. Kaidan had accompanied Garrus from the Normandy, the same drive flowing through him in the search for his friend and fellow Spectre. They had run into Grunt who was sniffing at the ground of an old pile of corpses claiming he had caught Shepard's scent and was following it. He joined Garrus and Kaidan in their search claiming if he kept sniffing around corpses he'd get hungry in a matter of minutes. As the three broadened their search they ran into a number of other soldiers trying to find anymore wounded or any distinguishable corpses that could be returned to families. None of them had seen Shepard one way or another so the trio continued searching. As they walked they eventually ended up at the site where the Citadel had been when Shepard and Anderson had made it to the beam, there were piles of unrecognizable corpses and the trio worried Shepard might be one of them.

"Should we look through some of the corpses? Maybe his body is underneath a pile," Kaidan suggested lamely.

"I don't think so, I remember these getting formed after Shepard made it up, if he was here he'd probably somewhere on the top," Garrus explained carefully. While he knew Kaidan was grasping at straws he didn't want to start digging through corpses unless it was necessary, and if it was necessary he'd have Grunt do the digging. The Krogan seemed interested with a certain spot with random corpses sprawled around the ground; he bent down and inhaled deeply through his nose as if he was a Varren tracking his prey.

"Find anything?" Garrus asked hopefully. Grunt seemed to scowl as he hmmd at the spot he had been examining.

"I found Shepard's scent, but its old and there's too many other scents masking his," after inhaling more of the ground and looking at the ground Grunt got up and pointed towards a few buildings nearby. "Scents seem to go in that direction, someone may have found him and took him over there."

"So what are we waiting for? Let's check it out!" Kaidan said enthusiastically. Grunt nodded his approval as he and Kaidan took the lead rushing towards the buildings Grunt had pointed at. Garrus sighed as he followed the two at a quickened pace. While his leg had been realigned it was still extremely stiff and required a brace to be worn for the time being. He was reluctant at first knowing that the brace would slow him down out in the field but Dr. Chakwas was insistent on him wearing the brace, and Tali more so than her. If it wasn't for the fact that she was working on EDI's blue box for Joker he knew that she'd have insisted on coming along in the search. Not that he's have minded, but he was growing annoyed with the constant fussing over his physical condition. When Garrus finally caught up to the two he noticed their disappointed looks as they saw that Shepard was nowhere to be seen.

"I can't find his scent anywhere," Grunt complained angrily as he head butted a section of the wall in the nearly torn down building. Kaidan shook his head as he pointed to a set of tracks; Garrus bent down and put his old C-Sec training to use as he examined the tracks.

"This is an older Hammerhead model, mostly used in transporting supplies and prestigious figures in war zones," as Garrus continued observing the ground he saw that the tire tracks from the unit disappeared from the use of the roads.

"Could whoever had been using it have carried Shepard away?" Kaidan asked hopefully.

"It's possible but the tracks disappear over there, we've hit another dead end." Garrus cursed under his breath as heard an audible roar come from behind him, as he turned with pistol in hand he froze when he saw it was Grunt, clutching at his stomach. Before Garrus could ask the sound happened again, this time with Grunt sighing in defeat.

"I'm hungry, can we go back to the ship to eat?" he asked simply. Despite the situation Kaidan and Garrus looked at one another and started to laugh. Although Grunt didn't appreciate being made fun of he let it slide when Kaidan handed him a ration pack from his belt.

"That should hold you over for now, if we head back to the Normandy we can grab something to eat and bring the information to Liara, maybe she can find out where the truck went."

"That's as good an idea as we can think of, come on lets head back." The three headed back empty handed (not counting Grunt who was busy ripping into Kaidan's rations) and upset at the lack of clues concerning Shepard's location. As they walked Garrus and Kaidan looked at the quickly repaired buildings being worked on by groups of Geth engineers. Since the war had ended the Geth who weren't working on the Citadel or the Relay had immediately began making repairs to the city of London, in just a short week they had already repaired nearly half of the city of London.

"You know I have to admit, the Geth do good work" Kaidan said kindly admiring the handy work of the AI race.

"You can expect them to play a bigger part in the Galaxy, that's for sure." Garrus said agreeing. At the rate the Geth were going they would be able to repair all of the fallen cities on Earth within several months. As the three neared the Normandy Garrus and Kaidan's Omni-tools went off declaring they had received a message. Garrus activated his tool first and froze when he read the message sent to him.

_Shepard at London Hills Hospital being attacked by Cerberus please hurry_

_ Liara_

As soon as Garrus shot his gaze over at Kaidan he saw that the humans face had paled obviously getting the same message he had gotten. Grunt however for whatever reason hadn't gotten the message and was confused looking at the two suddenly going speechless.

"Hey! What's the matter with you two?" he demanded curiously.

"Shepard's being attacked at the London Hills Hospital," Garrus said rushed as he checked the weapons he had on hand; a heavy pistol and his M-98 Widow. If the message was true there wouldn't be any time to reach the Normandy to grab his Assault Rifle. As he looked at Kaidan he noticed that he was thinking the same thing having only his M-9 Tempest at his waist.

"That's about a mile south of our location, we have to hurry!" Kaidan exclaimed as he broke into a run. Hearing all he needed to hear Grunt had spit out the wrapper holding the remains of Kaidan's lunch as he ran with renewed speed in the direction Kaidan had mentioned, his Claymore already in hand ready for the fight. Garrus did his best to keep up with Kaidan but even if he wasn't injured there'd be no way that he and Kaidan would be able to make it to the hospital in time, Grunt might but even he was only one Krogan. As the two stopped reluctantly to breathe Kaidan cursed as he punched the ground in anger.

"This is POINTLESS! We're never going to get there in time!" Garrus looked around the area for a moment and froze when he saw a Human parking his motorcycle outside a newly restored building, and fortunately there was a side car attached to the bike. Gaining Kaidan's attention he pointed to the bike and asked, "You know how to drive one of those things?" Kaidan turned to the bike and then looked back at Garrus with a renewed fire in his eyes and a smile on his lips.

"Let's go,"

_2 hours earlier London Hills Hospital_

Liara was back in the observation room of Shepard's room watching as Maelon and the other doctors injected him with a number of medicines directly into his organs or blood stream. Maelon explained to Liara everything they were doing to keep Shepard alive but even she knew they were fighting a losing battle. The hint of a smile Liara had seen on John's face a week ago was gone replaced by a neutral expression beading with sweat showing the suffering he was going to. While Liara was there she did her best not to hover over the glass to watch what was going on, she did her best to keep up with her works and to memorize the patterns of the guard changing and Shepard's medicine injections. The few times she had been allowed into the room with Shepard (under Maelon's supervision) she talked to him hoping that he could hear her in his coma, it was the only thing she could do to feel useful. She had just been in the room with Shepard recently this time she replayed the song she had played months ago on the piano through her Omni-tool. When he didn't stir from the sound of the music Liara felt her eyes well up with tears. She would have cried had Maelon not put a supportive hand on her shoulder reminding her he was there.

"It's time to leave Dr. T'soni, I need to prep him for his next round of injections." Liara had nodded and walked out as Maelon escorted her back to the observation room where she was now sitting bent over her work. The two rooms were empty except for Liara and Maelon, the other doctors were on leave and Admiral Hackett was meeting with the Primarch to work on settlement agreements until the Relays were fixed. As she typed at her Omni-tool trying to reallocate more materials to give the Quarians to work on the Relay with she heard the door open and looked up to see two new guards approaching the ones inside the room.

_Odd, the next guard relief isn't supposed to be for another hour _Liara thought to herself, Maelon must have thought the same thing because he eyed the two new guards suspiciously. Apparently the current guards were just as confused as they were and pointed their pistols at the new guards protectively.

"Halt! This is a restricted area, state your business" the senior officer, Derek, demanded.

"We're here to relieve you," one of the guards said casually. "Code Z49-JX42," Derek and the other guard exchanged confused glances with each other as they lowered their weapons.

"That doesn't make any sense that code is for executing rouge VI systems. What are you trying to-" the younger guard was interrupted by a knife coming from one of the new guard's sleeve and ramming it into the man's neck. Before Derek could respond the second guard whipped out his pistol and fired at him point blank in the face. As Derek fell to the ground dead the two men turned on Liara who was ready for them; a barrier already raised around herself and Maelon she blocked the oncoming shots as Maelon sent two incinerate blasts from his Omni-tool at the men killing them instantly. As the men fell Liara released her barrier and ran to the bodies of the traitorous guards. As she searched them Maelon turned to examine Derek and the younger officer. When he looked up sadly from their wounds Liara could tell that they hadn't survived the attacks. Meanwhile Liara had dug through the intruders' armor and found a communication device on the man who had shot Derek.

"Did you find something?" Maelon asked hopefully.

"I think so; it seems to be a communication device." Before Liara could activate the device Maelon grabbed it from her and scanned it with his Omni-tool. Within moments all of its information was now on his Omni-tool. He did the same thing with the men's Omni-tools and soon he had the information he was looking for.

"These two are Cerberus," he said angrily fingering through the data on his tool.

"What? How is that possible?" Liara demanded.

"My best guess is that Cerberus had men stationed in the Alliance in the event they needed to take someone of importance out quickly."

"Who's issuing the commands?" Liara asked worriedly.

"Oleg Petrovsky. The Illusive Man's right hand man and one of the greatest military strategists in the galaxy." Liara had heard the name before, when Shepard had accompanied Aria to retake Omega he had handed Petrovsky over to the Alliance where he had given valuable Intel on Cerberus bases.

"But I thought he was in Alliance custody," Liara said pointedly. Maelon shook his head searching through the information and scowled angrily.

"Well where ever he is I guess he decided to stop cooperating with the Alliance. He ordered these men to kill Shepard a little over a week ago."

"Someone betrayed the Alliance," Liara said angrily her biotics activating in anger. Before Maelon could tell her to calm down his Omni-tool went off the same time the Cerberus communicator went off. Accepting the call Maelon listened to the man on the other end.

"_Delta team this is Omega squad, what's your status? Is he dead?_" Maelon typed a few keys on his Omni-tool and responded with a surprisingly deeper voice.

"Negative Omega squad, target has been moved to another location. Abort mission, repeat abort mission.

"_What? That's impossible our Intel was solid, he couldn't have been moved- wait, what's the bypass code for the ship out back?"_ Not having an answer Maelon hit another button on the Omni-tool as the last thing heard from the other end was a painful scream followed by static.

"This is bad, I'd expect them to have more men in the hospital." Maelon said worriedly as he brought up security feeds from the hospital up onto the holo-projector on the table. He found the man who had screamed in pain as he lie on the ground hopefully dead with several other soldiers checking his condition. Meanwhile on the main floor of the hospital another group of soldiers were trying to evacuate the patients and doctors out of the building.

"We need to alert the doctors! We can't let them leave the hospital," Liara said drastically. Maelon typed on his Omni-tool again and watched the screen as the virtual map began blinking on and off in a seemingly random order.

"Most of the Salarians on the main floor are STG," Maelon explained. "They'll decipher the message and do what they can."

"What message did you send?" Liara asked worriedly. Maelon bent down to one of the fallen guards and picked up an M-5 Phalanx heavy pistol.

"Cerberus invasion, do not submit." He answered simply after reloading the Phalanx with a fresh thermal clip. Liara copied his idea and picked up the second M-5 Phalanx on the ground along with one of the Cerberus agent's M-25 Hornet smg. After replacing the thermal clips in the weapons. Liara risked a look out the door; she saw a group of men in Alliance armor arguing in the lobby not 20 yards away before the group split up in different directions. Before closing the door Liara bioticaly removed the door handle on the opposite side and locked the room from the inside. Maelon was busy sending warnings throughout the rest of the Hospital when he looked up from the projector.

"See anything interesting?" he asked.

"There sending men out all over the floor, it can't be to look for Shepard they obviously knew he was here. They have to be up to something." Maelon nodded and went through all the security feeds looking for suspicious alliance soldiers. Finally he cursed loudly saying something in Salarian that Liara couldn't understand as he began typing frantically on his Omni-tool.

"What's wrong?" Liara demanded knowing something was wrong. Maelon finished typing on his Omni-tool and looked at Liara.

"Cerberus somehow put a blocker on transmissions going in and out of the hospital, basically were stuck without any back up."

"Could this get any worse?" Liara wondered aloud as a warning light began going off on one of the sensors displayed on the holo-projector.

"Unfortunately yes, Cerberus is trying to cut the power to the hospital." Liara's face expanded in worry as she looked past Maelon through the glass to the comatose Shepard lying on the operating table with several machines keeping him alive.

"We can't let them succeed." Liara said with vigorous determination.

"Agreed, for now I've got the main power locked down. Only someone in STG or myself has clearance now, it should buy us _some _time anyways." Suddenly gun fire was heard from below, Maelon and Liara turned to the projection to see a number of Salarians opening fire on the Alliance disguised Cerberus operatives.

"What are the chances the other operatives can call for help?" Liara asked hopefully. Maelon shook his head sadly.

"Unfortunately it wouldn't work, and besides they will probably focus on keeping civilians safe. For better or worse were on our own Liara." Liara began pacing back and forth as she tried to come up with a plan, suddenly an idea formed in Liara's head.

"If we had direct Omni-tool connection with other people, could we still send messages to them?" Maelon thought about this for a few moments before shrugging unsurely.

"It's possible but there's a good chance that the messages may be delayed." Not waiting for a second chance Liara quickly typed in a message and sent it to everyone she had direct Omni-tool hookup with: Garrus, Kaidan, Javik and James. She cursed to herself for never adding more people to her direct contact and hoped that the others would receive her message. Suddenly there was rough banging heard coming from outside the door. Looking at the security feeds they were positive they were Cerberus agents. Maelon tapped one final thing on his Omni-tool bringing down a metal sheet down over the glass separating this room from Shepard's. As soon as the metal was brought down a hole was scorched through the door. At seeing the opening Liara instantly launched a Singularity through the small opening capturing the men in midair.

"I don't suppose you have any shields do you?" Liara called out to Maelon as she called upon a barrier to protect herself. Maelon hit a button on his Omni-tool as a quick shimmer of blue surrounded his body. Nodding Liara and Maelon took cover behind the walls as the doors eventually were blown open by another group of Cerberus troops. The two did their best to work together to take out the oncoming soldiers as they came through the door. Maelon would lower their shields where Liara would hit them hard with a steady onslaught of biotic explosions, when the men stopped firing at them and at the metal sheet protecting Shepard's room Liara would throw out a barrier to keep the men out of the room while Maelon picked them off one at a time. As the latest onslaught of soldiers came to an end Liara and Maelon checked their guns.

"I'm out," Maelon said regretfully throwing the gun aside. Liara checked her guns and wasn't in a much better situation. She handed her pistol over to Maelon and put her last thermal clip into her smg. The holo-projector showed that more troops were on their way up and Liara prepared for their arrival.

"Why doesn't anyone outside realize what's happening?" Liara questioned as she prepared a barrier.

"I haven't a clue, possible that everyone thinks that their Alliance soldiers. I wouldn't put it past Petrovsky to falsify Alliance records as their orders are being initiated."

"You know him?" Liara asked curiously.

"He tried to have some men kill me when I was back on Omega; fortunately I managed to get away while he was fighting with Aria T'loak." Suddenly another onslaught of soldiers appeared at the face of the barrier, unfortunately they had brought a biotic of their own this time. A Dragoon soldier was at the opening of the barrier and easily forced an opening that would allow the others to go in. As Liara was instantly crippled from having her barrier ripped open Maelon used a combination of Tech explosions to try and give her time to recover. Unfortunately there were too many and eventually Maelon's Omni-tool had to cool down forcing him to fire at the oncoming men. Just as it seemed like the two would be over run a blast of blue energy was shot at the group of soldiers who had yet entered the room. When the Dragoon turned to see what had happened he was hit by a dark green blast of energy and was immediately taken to the ground. After the smoke cleared Liara turned from her cover and was relieved to see a familiar face come through the door way.

"It would seem that this 'Cerberus' group has yet to learn its lesson. I will gladly teach them."

"I don't think I've ever been this glad to see you Javik," Liara said honestly as she got up from her cover behind a desk.

"It is too soon for celebration, there are more soldiers on the upper floors and they are trying to cut the power."

"If they succeed then Shepard and everyone else in the hospital hooked up to life support will be killed," Maelon says gravely as he begins looting the corpses for spare thermal clips. As Liara did the same Javik got her attention.

"Where is the Commander Dr. T'soni?" he asked in what almost sounded like a worried tone.

"He's behind that metal sheet in the room below; we've had to protect him for the time being but were going to have to prevent Cerberus from cutting the power."

"A good strategy, I will stay here and guard the Commander while you handle the soldiers upstairs."

"I better stay here to," Maelon interrupted after throwing to Liara extra thermal clips. "If anything happens to worsen Shepard's condition I'm the only one who can stabilize him, you'll have to go on your own from here Liara."

"Understood Maelon," Liara agreed. Maelon connected their Omni-tools together so they would be in contact the whole time. As Liara went to the door she paused for a moment and looked back towards Maelon and Javik.

"Please keep him safe," she said worriedly.

AN: Cliff hanger! Thanks for reading, I'll have the next chapter up ASAP, please review I live for those.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3: Ending the Siege

Liara had met instant resistance upon reaching the next floor, the Cerberus troops were struggling to bypass the locks Maelon had set up on one of the doors and were willing to take out their frustrations on her. She managed to defeat the soldiers attacking her but heard more coming from down the hall way.

"Maelon I just found a group of Cerberus troops trying to break into a room, is that where the power generator is?" Liara asked into her Omni-tool.

"_No the actual generator is in the basement of the hospital but shutting that off would alert the Alliance of the attack."_

"So what were they trying to do by breaking in to that room?" Liara asked confused as the next wave of Cerberus troops advanced.

"_I'm not sure, I'll try to decipher more of the data we got off the first Cerberus soldiers, in the meantime keep them out of there and try to push them back." _Cerberus troops began flooding through the hallway and towards Liara with their guns trained on her. Fortunately the hallway worked as like a funnel and made it easier for Liara to take out the oncoming soldiers. She leveled the first few with a well-placed biotic explosion and shot at the next oncoming soldiers during her cool down. Unfortunately they began coming from other parts of the floor and soon Liara was surrounded. Liara threw up a barrier to prevent their advance but she knew it was only a matter of time until her barrier was destroyed. As she slowly took out the oncoming soldiers that were repeatedly firing at her barrier her Omni-tool went off indicating a call.

"Maelon?" she asked through the strain of taking fire.

"_Liara! Thank the spirits you're alright,"_

"Garrus? Where are you?"

"_Kaidan and I are on the ground floor we just cleared the room and are on our way up, where are you?"_

"I'm on the third floor taking heavy fire, please hurry Garrus!"

"_Don't worry Liara, you should be seeing the tank at any minute now."_ Before Liara could question Garrus's odd choice of wording an explosion from the wall on the other side of the room had her and several Cerberus troops turn to see what happened; from the hole in the wall an angry, charging Grunt was running towards the group of Cerberus troops with his Claymore lighting up the room. As several stray soldiers were dropped instantly Grunt lowered his head and plowed through the majority of the remaining troops knocking them to the ground. Seeing her chance Liara threw a Singularity at the ground lifting the fallen soldiers in the air where Grunt finished them off. Turning to the now retreating troops in the hall way Grunt took a grenade from his belt and threw it down at the group not only killing the remaining soldiers but also singing and damaging the walls in the hall.

"WHEW, nothing like fighting in a hospital to get the blood pumping," Grunt said energetically as he reloaded his shot gun. Liara lowered her barrier with a sigh and slumped to the ground.

"Thank the Goddess you came when you did Grunt, I don't think I could have lasted much longer." Having seen Liara Grunt approached her and offered her a hand, when she took it he pulled her violently up causing Liara to scream in shock and pain in her wrist.

"Sorry," Grunt said sheepishly.

"Not a problem," Liara said in a strained voice. It wasn't long until Garrus and Kaidan were running up to them with their weapons in hand.

"What's going on Liara, Shepard's here?" Kaidan asked upon meeting them.

"He's on the floor below us, Javik and Maelon are there defending him."

"Maelon? You mean that Salarian who used the Blood Pack to make the Genophage cure?" Garrus asked suspiciously. Liara nodded when her Omni-tool went off, this time it was Maelon's voice who spoke.

"_Liara I figured out what Cerberus is trying to do, there trying to get to the life support control facility. There they'd have been able to shut off Shepard's life support individually without alarming anyone in the hospital."_

"Why would a hospital have a room like that?" Kaidan wondered suspiciously.

"_Did help come? Good you'll need it, and to answer your question I'm not sure. All I know is that since they know were on to them they won't need to make it look like an accident now."_

"Was that the room they were trying to break into?" Liara asked.

"_No I managed to change the NavPoints on their Omni-tools; they don't have any idea where it is now."_

"And do you?" Kaidan asked hopefully.

"_It's on the fifth floor in the Oncology Department, be careful there are a large amount of Cerberus soldiers on that floor and still a large number of wounded,"_

"Well you heard him, let's go shoot some bad guys!" Grunt sad enthusiastically pumping his Claymore in the air.

"Didn't you hear him, there are wounded here." Kaidan reminded defensively. "It might be best to wait for Admiral Hackett and the Alliance to arrive."

"You called Admiral Hackett?" Liara asked hopefully.

"Yeah on the way here," Garrus said. "But if Cerberus is already on the fifth floor than waiting for the Alliance might not be a good move."

"Well what do you suggest than?" Kaidan asked. Garrus loaded his pistol and pointed to the stairs.

"We move fast and hit them hard, and if we're lucky they'll never know what hit them."

"HAHA I like this plan," Grunt said approvingly. Liara turned to look at Kaidan who obviously disapproved of the plan but saw no other option. The four quickly and silently ran up the stairs and were lucky in that there were no soldiers guarding the door. They split up into two teams: Garrus and Liara would head for the life support facility while Grunt and Kaidan went to keep the majority of the guards busy. As the two rushed down the hallways quietly Garrus finally asked the question that had been bothering him for weeks.

"How is he?" he asked not needing to say who. Liara faltered in her steps but regained her composure, her words sounded forced though and Garrus could tell it was killing her.

"Bad, he's stable but there's little the doctors can do."

"Liara…" Garrus started but Liara shook it off.

"Not now Garrus, right now Shepard needs us." Nodding his agreement the two ran to the NavPoint on Liara's Omni-tool and stopped abruptly when they saw an opened door with two guards standing outside of it.

"Damn, they must have overridden the locks," Garrus said angrily as Liara contacted Maelon on her Omni-tool.

"Maelon, Cerberus got into the room before us,"

"_Damn! There already trying to enter the kill code, I'll do what I can to keep Shepard stable but you need to get them out of there quick!"_ As the call ended Garrus readied his gun.

"So what's the plan Liara?" he asked readily. Liara didn't answer and just jumped from behind the corner and rushed at the two guards. The two weren't ready the attack and were biotically thrown from there post into the wall Garrus followed Liara after shooting the guards through the helmet where they pointed their weapons at the engineer working the console.

"STOP! Move your hands away from that console or I will rip you apart from a molecular level," Liara threatened as a biotic flare went around her as she still had her gun aimed at the engineer's chest.

"I'd listen to her if I were you, I've seen her rip Krogan in half that way." Garrus said taking the role of the good cop. The engineer just smiled darkly as he continued working the counsel, it was then that Kaidan and Grunt reappeared covered in blood.

"The Alliance is here, along with an entire platoon of Geth for some reason," Kaidan warned as he and Grunt also trained their guns on the engineer.

"It doesn't matter if the entire galaxy is here, I'm the one who has the great 'Commander Shepard's' life at the palm of his hands. So unless the demands of Cerberus are met, you're going to lose your hero." At the same time Liara threw a warp at the rambling engineer while Grunt shot him in the chest throwing him into the wall. Before anyone else could move the fallen engineer raised his pistol shakily and shot it at the console resulting in a fit of electricity coming from where the shot hit. Smiling cruelly the man's head and arm fell down immediately after showing that he had died. As the four ran to the console to see if anything had been done Maelon's voice rang from Liara's Omni-tool.

"_Liara Shepard's vitals are failing! You have to undo the kill code immediately."_

"Out of the way," Kaidan said as he tried to make repairs to the console his fingers moved quickly but there was little that he could do.

"Kaidan you have to do something!" Liara demanded in a panicked voice as Kaidan fumbled with no prevail on the broken console.

"Liara I'm trying, there's nothing I can do." Seconds later Admiral Hackett with a squad of men along with a Geth had made it to the group. Garrus filled in the Admiral on what had happened as Kaidan continued with no avail to fix the console. Once Garrus was finished with his explanation the Geth approached Liara and Kaidan.

"If it isn't too much trouble I believe I may be of assistance," Kaidan moved out of the way as the Geth immediately got to work, its fingers typed wildly and with exact precision as it made minor repairs to the console and to its overall systems. After approximately thirty seconds of repairs the three fingers on the Geth's right hand expanded and integrated with the hardware of the console, as the Geth's light changed to a red color to a green one it said in a neutral voice,

"The code used to kill life support had been neutralized, life support is back online." Liara sighed in immense relief, while the others cheered her Omni-tool went off and she answered it happily.

"We did it Maelon, we managed to reactivate the life support code."

"_Yes you did… but I'm afraid I have some bad news. Come back to the room immediately."_ Before Liara could question Maelon he had hung up leaving her confused and frantic. Having heard the entire message Admiral Hackett ordered his men to flush out any remainder of Cerberus troops in the hospital and to bring them in for questioning. Then he and the others, minus the Geth who was busy making final repairs on the console, went back to the second floor to hear the news from Maelon. When they arrived Javik was there with a pained look on his face as he biotically cleared the room of the fallen Cerberus corpses. The metal sheet that had been raised from the glass and Liara saw that Maelon was working frantically at Shepard's body. When the others saw Shepard they gasped at his condition and stood in shock.

"Damn, how can anyone survive with wounds like that?" Garrus wondered aloud. Grunt nodded his approval at Shepard's condition.

"That's my Battlemaster, it'll take more than missing flesh and organs to kill him." Kaidan had nothing to say and simply looked away not being able to handle the sight. Maelon then walked up the stairs and finished the decontamination process when he approached Hackett and Liara.

"What happened doctor?" Hackett asked getting right to business. Maelon shook his head shamefully as he looked back at Shepard through the glass and then back at the Admiral.

"Long story short; a few moments after you called me the command killing Shepard's life support was put through. I did what I could but a number of his organs began to fail before you killed the command."

"So we'll give him a transplant for the failed organs," Hackett mused simply.

"I have an extra heart," Grunt volunteered immediately. Maelon shook his head sadly waving away the suggestion and the offer.

"It's not that simple. If any of Shepard's remaining organs get anymore infected he'll die immediately."

"And if we don't operate?" Hackett asked sadly. Maelon shook his head sadly as Liara felt tears begin to flow from her eyes as she fell to her knees and began crying. As she stayed on the ground crying with her head in her hands she couldn't help but curse the fates who found this a fair reward for the man who had saved the galaxy. She looks up when she feels a three fingered hand put on Liara's shoulder, she looked up expecting Garrus and was surprised to see that it was Javik who had his hand on her shoulder.

"No, there is one way we may the Commander: The Janigri Kai.

AN: Thanks for reading guys! I will post my next chapter ASAP, please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4: Janigri Kai

"Janigri Kai?" Garrus asked skeptically.

"Isn't that a European dessert or something?" Kaidan asked curiously.

"I actually believe that it is from India," Maelon said pointedly.

"It is NOT a dessert!" Javik shouted as he turned away from the weeping Liara to shout at the two. As Javik began to mumble about the 'idiocracies of primitives' Liara managed to compose herself and got up from the floor.

"Please Javik, what is the Janigri Kai?" Liara asked trying to get Javik to calm down from his outrage. Javik sent one more death threatening stare towards Kaidan and Maelon before explaining the procedure.

"Back in my cycle, when my people fought against the Reapers, the Avatars of that cycle had a meeting on ways to strengthen our men for combat. It was decided that the easiest way to give our people hope was to give unequaled strength to the Avatars who were of use during the war. Avatars of Kindness, Peace, Tranquility and others of the sort were useless in battle due to most of them swearing to never take a role in violence no matter how desperate the war. Instead it was decided that these… kinder Avatars would give their biotic power and knowledge to Avatars who could use it to best effects: Avatars of Strength, Rage, and Vengeance."

"They could give one another their biotic power?" Hackett asked incredulously.

"Such a thing is impossible, it's unheard of." Maelon said accusingly.

"If you would allow me to finish you would see that it is not," Javik warned dangerously with a growl in his throat. When Maelon had shut his mouth Javik turned to Admiral Hackett.

"And yes, their Biotic Power among other things. These Protheans gifted with added power and wisdom were unmatched by all but the Reapers themselves, unfortunately as the war dragged on it grew hard for the Avatars to be able to transfer their collected powers to another when their time was short."

"This is all very interesting," Maelon interrupted earning himself another scowl from Javik. Ignoring the glare he asked simply, "But as interesting as this is how does this help us treat Shepard?"

"He does have a point Javik," Liara said solemnly. Sighing Javik explained 'only' the procedure.

"Along with the Janigri Kai giving the next Prothean increased strength and knowledge, it also gave the receiving Prothean the health and youth of the Prothean giving it."

"But isn't Shepard human?" Grunt asked confused. "You all look the same to me anyway."

"Yes, the Commander is human. However when I examined the Commander when we first met I was surprised to see that he had heavy modifications to his body, why was that?"

"Cerberus rebuilt him, they completely repaired his body with cybernetics and other various Reaper tech," Liara explained. Javik shook his head as he gestured to the Commander behind him.

"Not Reaper, Collector." The word hit everyone in the room (except Grunt) heavily as Javik revealed this to the group.

"And this helps us how exactly?" Garrus asked wondering if he had missed something.

"When the Commander was rebuilt he was approximately 30% cybernetics and 30% of his original DNA structure. The other 40%..."

"Was Prothean," Liara said finally understanding why Javik brought up the procedure.

"Yes, the Commander is now technically part Prothean, thankfully when Cerberus rebuilt him they removed the cybernetic implants from the Collector's organs to make them completely organic. That and him having been touched by a Prothean Beacon may be enough to treat the Commander of his wounds."

"Wait, may be enough?" Hackett asked worriedly.

"The procedure was dangerous enough when done on a Prothean, only half of those who received power survived."

"Is there a down side to the procedure if it fails?" Kaidan asked.

"Yes, we both die," Javik said simply.

"And you're able to perform this, Janigri Kai?" Liara asked, her heart beating excitedly.

"Yes, I was the last Prothean to have the Janigri Kai performed on, it was to be my gift to help lead our people in the next war with the Reapers." Everyone in the room seemed excited about the procedure; the thought of having Shepard brought back to them without any worry was exciting. Of course however Maelon, whose mind was on overdrive on taking in this new information had a number of questions he needed clearing up before he'd let Javik perform the Janigri Kai.

"If you could have done this all along why didn't you say something earlier? What's the catch to this Janigri Kai business?" As the group stared onto Javik waiting for an answer the Prothean nodded his head in acceptance that Maelon was correct.

"Regardless of how the Janigri Kai affects the receiver, the one giving his power will always die. I did not say anything simply because if there was hope that the commander could be healed on his own it would be unnecessary, but there is now no other option and I will be willing to perform the Janigri Kai." For whatever reason everyone in the room was surprised to hear Javik say he was 'willing' to do it, he would willingly sacrifice himself to save, or at least attempt to save Shepard. Knowing that it was a stupid thing to do Liara looked Javik in his four eyes and asked him simply and sincerely:

"Why? Why would you be willing to sacrifice your life to save John's if you know it will kill you?" The reaction Liara got surprised her and everyone else in the room. Javik looked Liara in the eyes and shut his four for a moment, and when he opened them there were tears formed underneath each eye.

"Because it is over," Javik said simply. When he saw the confused looks on everyone's faces he explained his reasoning. "When I was put into stasis the only thing on my mind was to kill the Reapers, to make them suffer for taking our home world, and now it's finally over. There is no reason for me to remain alive in this cycle, my purpose is complete," Javik looked back to Liara ad she saw that the tears were flowing down his eyes freely now.

"Back on the Normandy the Commander convinced me to use my Echo Shard, to see what my cycle was like before the war. It was beautiful, and I would hope that where ever Protheans go to die that we are returned to a time of prosperity and peace."

"But you could have a life in this cycle Javik," Liara argued. She didn't know why she was trying to convince Javik to reconsider, she should have been ecstatic that he was willing to sacrifice himself to save John. But would she be able to live with herself if he went through with it with any regrets? Thankfully he seemed determined as he shook his head confidently in his decision.

"My life was in the past Liara T'soni, whether my sacrifice saves the Commander or not I wish for it to end. I want to be able to rest with my beloved Jalnara again, I have no regrets in doing this Liara T'soni. I have only one request in return for doing this."

"Of course Javik," Liara said before anyone else could say a word.

"Regardless of what happens here I would like you to take my body to the Cronian Nebula where you will find a lone planet in its system and leave my corpse there among my fallen brethren. That is all I wish."

"I'll see to it personally Javik." Liara promised. Satisfied Javik nodded his head and turned to face Maelon for the last time.

"Would you tell me where the Commander's last worn effects are?" Maelon stared at Javik curiously before pointing to the cabinet on the other side of the room. Javik went to the cabinet and found the items Shepard had had on his person when the Alliance had found him, the armor was nowhere in sight but that was not what Javik was looking for, in a pile of items was the Echo Shard he had given the Commander before they had split up for the final battle. Javik grabbed the shard and held in anxiously in his hand, as he walked towards the door leading into the room Shepard was located he stopped at the door and looked back towards the group.

"It has been an honor to fight with each of you," he said sincerely. Not waiting for a response Javik dropped his Particle Rifle from his back onto the ground and walked into the door leading into the ER. After the decontamination process was over Javik slowly walked down the stairs toward Shepard. As he walked toward him Javik couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment in himself, against all odds the Protheans had survived the Reaper war. It was all any of them could have wished for back in his cycle. Javik now stood next to Shepard on his bed, the machines beeping rapidly as they tried futilely to aid the Commander's worsening condition. With the Echo Shard still in Javik's right hand he raised both of them over Shepard, in response a green barrier of energy surrounded both the human and the Prothean. Those observing the procedure could notice that there was something off about the barrier that surrounded the two, aside from it glowing green there seemed to be an essence from within the barrier that seemed to come from Javik's hands and into the barrier. As the barrier began to swirl in a vortex rotation around Shepard it seemed to the group as if the essence within the barrier was now going _into _Shepard. As it happened Javik began chanting something in Prothean that the others couldn't understand.

As Javik focused on doing the Janigri Kai he couldn't help but feel weakened from the effort the ritual took from him. The damage Shepard was inflicted was worse than he had though, and he began to worry that he would not have the power to heal all of his wounds. Instead Javik began focusing more on the more fatal injuries inflicted to Shepard, telling from the pheromones emanating off of Shepard's body he could tell that his heart and several other vital organs were close to failing. Focusing his power on the more vital organs Javik could feel the swear begin to pour down his face and cursed the fatigue from happening to quickly. His mind thought back to his cycle when the Avatar of Righteousness performed the Janigri Kai on himself: the ritual was quick and ended with the elder Prothean dying on the ground before him. Javik had been the last Prothean to have the Janigri Kai performed on, and now he was performing it on a human.

Javik could feel his body begin to weaken from the strain of maintaining the barrier around them, he redoubled his efforts and did his best to keep the vortex spinning into Shepard. As the process continued Javik turned his attention to the Echo Shard in his hand, opening his mind to it Javik was brought back to a time in Prothean history seen by a Prothean who owned the shard before him:

_It was a time of celebration, the Metacon War had just been one and the Prothean Empire was celebrating its victory over the monstrous AI. For the first time in over a century the Protheans did not wear their armor always expecting an attack, instead they donned the open vest and slacks of their peace times. The celebration went on for days where they all drank and ate and listened to the others play the stringed instrument called the Dal'lanack. The music was beautiful and those playing sang of their victory and sacrifice in the war. On the seventh day of celebration the musicians sang a song the Javik had heard only once from his lover Jalnara as she had sung it to him before they would sleep but the group of men singing the song while strumming their instruments put her beautiful voice to shame._

"_E ku'u lei _

_E hele mai 'oe _

_A 'ike I na waiwai _

_O ke kai 'uli iho _

_Mai uwe 'oe _

_E ku'u lei hiwa _

_E wau ia 'oe _

_Na kau a kau _

_Ei nei e, oh _

_E ku'u lei"_

_The men singing repeated the song continuously for the entire day never faltering in their song and never missing a note. _

Javik opened his eyes and found himself with a rare smile on his face, doubling the potency of the ritual the barrier glowed brighter and the essence within swirled into Shepard at a faster rate. Javik didn't stop using the Echo Shard however, as he kept the Janigri Kai in effect he also put his life and experience into the Echo Shard for others to one day view the complete history of the Prothean Empire, he was sure that the Asari would be ecstatic over the fact and hoped she'd have the chance to use it. As the vortex moved faster into Shepard Javik felt his body physically and mentally draining as he felt his knees weaken from the process. Finally, with a bright flash of green from the barrier, Javik finds himself toppling over onto the ground. The Echo Shard had fallen from his grasp and onto Shepard's body as his own body hit the ground. When the others saw that the Prothean lied there unmoving Javik and Liara rushed into the room. The two approached Javik and Maelon kneeled down to find a pulse, when he found none he shook his head sadly to Liara. Liara was distraught over the loss of the Prothean, even if the two had rarely ever seen eye to eye Javik was always forward and honest with everyone even if it was in a cruel way, but she was glad to see that Javik died with a smile on his face.

Once he had confirmed that Javik was dead Maelon gave his undivided attention to Shepard's body, he checked the console that was connected to the various machines hooked up to Shepard and began typing in numerous commands to check Shepard's conditions. With each key stroke Maelon became more and more anxious going through the files at an increased speed.

"Well?" Liara nearly demanded of the Salarian as she couldn't keep her worry restrained any longer. "How is he?" Maelon looked up from the screen to Liara and she saw the incredulous look on Maelon's face.

"I don't know how it's possible; while his exterior wounds and internal breaks and fractures of the bones haven't been completely restored his internal organs have made tremendous leaps in recuperating-"

"Maelon," Liara said excitedly wanting to hear Maelon say the actual words. Maelon shook his head and smiled as he looked back to the screen and said with awe in his voice.

"I don't know how but he's survived the worst of it, Shepard will survive."

AN: Hey everyone thanks for reading, I'm worried that this isn't one of my better pieces so I apologize if you think so to. I'll have the next chapter up ASAP as usual.

PS: If anyone is interested the name of the song Javik listens to through the Echo Shard is called Always.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5: A Hero Awakens

Liara had just returned to Shepard's room at the hospital from the Normandy. Since Cerberus's attempt at Shepard's life everyone was on high alert, under Admiral Hackett's supervision every Alliance soldier in the area was examined and had extensive background searches performed upon. It was to little avail though since most of the Cerberus agents who had been undercover had already been killed or captured in the attack. Since the attack it was obvious now to everyone where Shepard was being kept so security had been strengthened tremendously to keep out the public and for the chance of another attack. With the help of Wrex and a number of Geth platforms they had managed to post enough men in and around the hospital to start a small war. Liara had been staying in the hospital room for the past several days wanting to stay close to Shepard in the event he woke up, but after sleeping in her chair for the second night in a row Maelon had finally convinced her to get some rest in her bed.

"I promise you if he wakes up you'll be the first person I tell," Maelon promised. As Liara walked into the room it was being guarded by Grunt and several other Krogan along with two Geth platforms: a soldier and an engineer. When she entered the room she saw Maelon typing at his computer, when he heard her approach Maelon gave her a quick nod without looking away from the screen.

"Maelon, isn't it time for another series of injections?" Liara asked curiously. She had at this point memorized Shepard's medical charts and schedules. Maelon shook his head never looking away from the computer as he said,

"No longer necessary, he no longer has any risk of infection or organ failure. All he needs now is to awaken from the coma and for his body to heal from his injuries, and they _both _may take a while."

"So I can go see him then?" Liara asked hopefully.

"Of course and no need to decontaminate. Stay as long as you'd like." Liara proceeded into the room and walked down the stairs to Shepard's bed side. She took a seat in a chair beside his bed as she moved it to be as close to him as possible. Liara stared at his body as he lie there sleeping, while his internal ailments may have been healed there were still numerous amounts of wounds and broken bones Shepard had to deal with. Maelon had said that nearly all of Shepard's bones had been broken and that he was on pain killers for when he woke up, _if_ he woke up. Liara began talking to Shepard as she did every day in hopes that her voice would bring him out of his comma, but it seemed unlikely he'd awaken today either.

"Tali told me that the Charon Relay is almost repaired, the Quarians and Geth have been working on it night and day. And the Citadel is improving to, it'll take years before it's completely repaired but with the Geth and the Keepers help it'll be livable again soon, and it'll be able to go through the Relays once it's finished." Liara looked down at the ground as she felt tears begin to well in her eyes. She shut them tightly as she continued trying to talk with a clear tone.

"I remember our talk back at your apartment,"

_Several months ago at Shepard's apartment_

_Liara had walked into Shepard's apartment when he invited her over, he had told her the door would be opened and to just walk in. When she entered she couldn't believe how large and beautiful the room was. As she walked in the first thing she noticed was the beautiful view from the windows, followed by the grand piano in the middle of the living room. Smiling Liara approached the piano, she put down her data pad and reached down with one hand to the keyboard before hesitating slightly._

How did it start again?_ She thought to herself. She then began playing the first few notes to the song and managed to play through the first stanza correctly, if not a little slow. As she repeated the beginning again, faster and more confident she was interrupted by Glyph appearing on the piano's music VI interface saying, _

"_Greetings Commander." Liara felt her heart beat from slight embarrassment as she turned around with a smile to see Shepard walking from the bathroom with his hair wet and in his off duty attire consisting of jeans, a black T-shirt and an N7 Jacket._

"_Shepard," she said warmly happy to see him._

"_I didn't know you could play," Shepard said curiously gesturing to the piano._

"_Actually, this is the only song I know." Liara admitted._

"_Why's that?" he asked, ever curious._

"_There was always something more important to do: a ruin to uncover, intel to gather." she turned back to Shepard with a playful smile on her lips as she said, "A Commander to save." Shepard laughed causing Liara's heart to beat harder._

"_You couldn't sit still long enough." Shepard teased playfully. Liara laughed in return and asked,_

"_Could you?"_

"_Is there something special about this song?" he asked. Liara half sighed half laughed as she recalled the moment that happened decades ago._

"_On one of my first digs, a storm swept in. I was so restless; I wanted to get back to work. One of the other archeologists, Dr. Olana, had this keyboard. She took it everywhere." Liara began playing the piano again, faster than her first attempt, as she finished the chords of the stanza she was in before Glyph had interrupted her._

"_She taught me to play this song while we waited."_

"_It's a good song", Shepard complimented. Liara turned back to look at Shepard with a smile._

"_Thank you, Shepard." Liara then turned back to the piano and played a few more bars before stopping and walked toward the windows with Shepard behind her as she said, _

"_I've always loved that song." As the two walked over towards the window they were both immediately surprised when they heard the piano playing on its own. When they turned around they saw that the keys of the piano had turned bright blue and Glyph, who was still on the piano, was facing them almost looking expectant as the song continued to play for them. Shepard looked back towards Liara with a playful smile, thinking that she planned this moment as a surprise. Liara fought the urge to blush as she looked away and prepared to leave not wanting to over stay her welcome._

"_Shepard I…" as she turned around to leave she felt John's strong yet gentle grip on her arm causing her to look back in happy surprise._

"_What are you doing?" she accused in a playful tone._

"_Making sure you don't run off to something more important." Shepard informed her while pulling her close to him._

"_I can't imagine what that would be," Liara said playfully. The two stared at one another for a few moments and Liara looked deeply into John's blue eyes. She could never understand why but every time he looked at her, even if he was angry or upset about something, there would always be a loving look coming from his eyes directed at her. She wondered constantly what she had done to deserve him. She was broken out of her idolization of his eyes when he spoke to her._

"_We should do this more often," Shepard suggested. Liara, who was still admiring his eyes, looked away as she said,_

"_Yes, well, maybe after…"_

"_Every day after," he interrupted grabbing Liara's hands and bringing her closer still to him._

"_Shepard," she said lovingly. As she looked away for a moment only to look back at his loving eyes she couldn't help but thank the Goddess for blessing her life with Shepard. The music had continued to play as Shepard and Liara closed the distance to one another and kissed each other passionately to the music of Glyph's song._

"I can't help but think about how we'd spend our time together now that the war is over," Liara admitted as the tears began to fall freely from her clenched eyes, she did her best to keep her tone as clear as possible even though it was getting difficult.

"I think about how nice it would be if we could go back to Thessia once it's been rebuilt, I can show you my home on Armali. It'd be a perfect place to-"Liara has to stifle her sobs before she continues.

"To raise our children together," she finally managed. She couldn't look up from her position as the tears flowed from her face. She knew that it was ridiculous to think about, but what if Shepard never awoke from his coma? She had heard of humans staying comatose for years, even as long as a decade if not longer. As these thoughts ran through her head she didn't find it alarming when she heard a voice come from in front of her.

"Marriage, old age, and a lot of little blue children. That was the plan." A tired raspy voice said.

"Yes," Liara said not realizing what just happened. When she finally put two and two together her head shot up as she looked at Shepard's body, worried that she was hallucinating. There in front of her, Shepard was lying down facing Liara. The loving look in his eyes was there along with a concerned look at noticing that Liara had been crying. Not being able to control herself Liara leapt at Shepard and embraced him tightly while planting a passionate kiss on his lips. While Shepard responded to the kiss he couldn't help but moan and flinch from Liara leaping onto him. When Liara realized she was hurting him she separated from him with a scared apologetic look on her face.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" Liara asked panicking. Shepard laughed slightly before flinching again and looked up at Liara.

"No your fine, can't say the same for my ribs though." Shepard joked.

"Goddess," Liara said staring at Shepard. He'd awoken, he actually woke up. At hearing Liara's jump onto the bed Maelon had entered the room and smiled when he saw that Shepard was awake.

"Ahh Commander, are we feeling any better from last night?" he asked.

"I feel like I got hit by a speeding train, that's better than an angry Krogan isn't it?" Shepard asked. Maelon chuckled as he checked the single IV attached to Shepard.

"I'll adjust your meds,"

"Wait a minute last night?" Liara questioned. As Maelon swapped out the medication.

"The Commander woke up late last night, I had to give him more appropriate pain killers to numb the pain."

"Why didn't you call me? You said I'd be the first to know!" Liara demanded angrily.

"I asked him not to." Shepard admitted getting Liara to turn around to stare at John in shock.

"I was about to call you when the Commander told me not to, his exact words were 'If I know Liara this will be the first time she's been in her bed since I've been in the hospital. Let her sleep and see me in the morning,' I respected his wish and _yours_ by not telling anyone he was awake. You're the first to know." Maelon explained simply. Liara looked down at Shepard and took her seat beside him.

"How is it that you barely survive being shot at by a Reaper and you're worried about _my_ well-being?" Shepard shrugged with some difficulty as he said,

"What can I say, I'm old fashioned." Liara laughed as Maelon finished swapping out his pain killers.

"Alright Commander, these will help with the pain and will help you sleep in a few hours. Tomorrow we'll see about getting you mobile."

"Wait is he ready for that? What about his broken bones?" Liara asked worriedly.

"Relax Dr. T'soni, I said we'd make him mobile not ready to run a marathon. I'll give you two sometime alone." As Maelon left the room Liara looked down at Shepard and became flustered when she saw that he was laughing at her slightly.

"What is so funny?" Liara demanded in a mock angry voice.

"You. Worrying about me." He said gently as he eased himself to stop laughing. Liara let out a small smile as she gently grasped John's hand, which he returned the gesture immediately.

"Well the next time you nearly get yourself killed know that I'll be the one to finish you off," Liara said playfully." Shepard uttered a weak laugh as he looked back at Liara saying,

"Yes Mam." As the two sat there Shepard explained what happened on the Citadel, the little boy who told him to make a choice on how to end the war. After hearing his explanation the pieces started to make sense in Liara's mind.

"That would explain why the Geth were malfunctioning after the Crucible went off."

"So the Geth are destroyed then?" Shepard asked mournfully.

"No not at all, in fact the Geth are probably the only race right now who suffered the least amount of casualties."

"How is that possible? They had Reaper code in them," Shepard rationalized trying to understand what happened.

"Well, Tali told me that before the Crucible fired she got word from the Geth that all of their programs were failing due to the Reaper code, so they rebooted their old software before they were hit."

"And now?" Shepard asked.

"Upgraded and helping with repairs on the Relay and the rest of the planet." Shepard sighed and let his head fall back on his pillow in obvious relief.

"What's wrong?" Liara asked worriedly.

"When I activated the Crucible, I felt terrible. Sacrificing the Geth in order to save the other species of the Galaxy. I felt no better than the Reapers."

"You did what you thought was right John, and no one would have blamed you." Liara said trying to comfort him.

"I know. I would have just had to live with it, and I would have felt terrible my whole life. Legion's sacrifice would have been for nothing."

"But it wasn't, everything's fine." Liara assured him squeezing his hand gently. Shepard looked up at her and smiled in appreciation.

"Thanks Liara. What about the others, did everybody else make it?" Liara went on explaining how everybody else was. James, Kaidan, Garrus, Tali, Zaeed, Wrex and Grunt were all safe if not a little worse for wear for those who were in the middle of the fight. Kasumi was safe as well, managing to escape the Reapers before they approached the Crucible. Samara and Jack had fallen in battle, Samara in saving Javik and Jack in holding up barriers against a Reaper beam in order to let the wounded escape.

"So many made it, and yet so many died as well." Shepard said mournfully.

"There will be time to morn later John, right now we should be grateful that your alive, and that the war is over." Shepard nodded before asking one last question.

"What about EDI and Javik are they ok?"

"EDI went off line after the Crucible activated, Tali has been trying to reactivate her but it hasn't been going well." Liara noticed Shepard's look of guilt at hearing about EDI's death. He may not have caused the death of all the Geth but he was responsible for a friend's death, and Liara knew that that would be harder for him to handle.

"And Javik?" he asked. Liara hesitated before answering but decided to tell Shepard the truth.

"It's kind of a complicated story," Liara finally managed.

AN: Hey everyone thanks for reading, please Review and tell me what you think and I'll have the next chapter up as soon as possible. Oh and PS Jacob and Miranda died on the Collector Suicide mission, I'll get to them eventually but just in case you were curious, so until next time.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6: New Order

_The Reapers were shooting their lasers at everyone running for the beams, no one was able to make it between the Reapers firing at the Mako' and Hammer Heads while the ground forces were attacking the infantry. They were horribly outnumbered and quickly being destroyed; suddenly Shepard heard a scream that sent ice through his veins. He turned around and was horrified to see Liara being picked up by a Banshee and unable to move. Shepard screamed as he ran at the Banshee with his M-7 Lancer raised when suddenly: his body freezes, he's unable to advance as he's somehow forced to his knees as the Assault Rifle falls from his hands._

"_John!" Liara called desperately for help as the Banshee caressed Liara's head. With all his might Shepard tried with no avail to rise from the ground to save Liara. As he panics he hears an icy voice that adds to his feelings of fear and desperation._

"_How can you hope to save the universe if you can't even save your lover Shepard?" He looked up to see the Illusive Man, confidently walking next to Shepard as he watches the two Asari interact._

"_Please… don't," Shepard begged as he struggled to get up off the ground._

"_**YOU HAVE LOST,**__" Harbinger's voice said through the Illusive Man, his once clear blue eyes replaced with a red glow._

"_**THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO NOW BUT WATCH AS EVERYTHING YOU CARE FOR DIES IN FRONT OF YOU."**__ With a wave of his hand the Banshee removed its hand from Liara's head before forcing it through her chest. Liara's form went limp instantly as the Banshee threw Liara's body before Shepard, Shepard stared at the dead body of his bond mate and he felt a surge of emotions course through him._

"_NO!"_

Shepard woke up seconds later in a cold sweat. He frantically looked around and was almost surprised to find himself in the bedroom Maelon had moved him into the other night. Once he realized it had been a nightmare he immediately turned his head and sighed in tremendous relief at seeing Liara beside him, safe and soundly asleep besides him. Nearly crying from relief Shepard, with tremendous effort, slid his hand into Liara's and squeezed it gently. She stirred slightly but didn't awake from her slumber, so Shepard simply stared at her while she slept and thought about what she had told him the night before. He was surprised in hearing how Javik had sacrificed himself to save him, he knew that Javik had wanted to kill himself after the war and Shepard felt partially responsible for that. It was he after all that had convinced him to use the Echo Shard to view his past; had he known that it would have led to the Prothean wanting to kill himself he never would have suggested it. None the less, he was extremely grateful to Javik's sacrifice and swore to always uphold his sacrifice in the highest of honors.

He also couldn't help but think back on all the friends he lost throughout the war: Samara, Jack, Thane, Legion, Mordin, Anderson, Ashley, Jacob and countless other friends to the war. But it was finally over, and at that Shepard couldn't help but smile, even through the pain he was feeling both physical and emotional. It was at that time that Liara chose to awake and looked at Shepard lovingly.

"Hey, good morning," he said lovingly as Liara gave him a tired smile.

"Morning, shouldn't you still be asleep?" Liara mumbled groggily. Shepard laughed as he looked to the clock on the other side of the bed next to the IV. It was almost noon and Shepard couldn't remember the last time he slept in this late.

"I'm ok, those pain killers Maelon gave me made me sleep like a log," he lied. Thankfully Liara didn't notice this as she stretched in the bed and wrapped her free arm gently around his chest. He flinched slightly from her touch and sighed angrily at how fragile he was. It had taken a solid 20 minutes to convince Liara to sleep in the bed with him last night instead of in her chair. She had finally agreed as long as he understood that all they would do was sleep, which he agreed to.

"How did you sleep?" he asked as he put his free hand on Liara's back.

"Better than I have in months. I wish we could stay like this, just you and me."

"Try to keep your voice down then, Maelon might think we're still asleep," Shepard whispered teasingly. As Liara giggled the door to their small room opened revealing Maelon walking in with another, smaller IV. Shepard over exaggerated a sigh as he shot a quick smile at Liara who returned it as she got up from the bed and stood beside him.

"Good morning Commander, Dr. T'soni. Did we sleep well last night?" Maelon asked neutrally, there was probably a good chance that the room had video surveillance Shepard guessed and he was only asking to be polite.

"Oh yeah, I feel like I could wrestle a few rounds with Grunt," Shepard joked. It got a smile from Maelon but an exaggerated eye role from Liara. Maelon went to remove the IV already connected to Shepard and replaced it with the new one.

"What's that?" Shepard rasped curiously.

"Next set of pain killers and tissue repair solutions, after this round your organs will be mostly healed. Although it will still take several months before your bones are fully healed, but you should be able to walk with the necessary braces and walking aids."

"Walking aids?" Shepard asked.

"Canes and crutches Commander, unless you'd rather have a wheel chair."

"No no, canes are good." Shepard said quickly, earning a gentle laugh from Liara. After the new IV was applied Maelon took a quick sample of blood for a final check on his blood work.

"Now there are quite a few people who have been requesting to see you, mostly your friends and Admiral Hackett along with the council. Now if you're willing to take guest I would suggest only a few at a time to keep you from getting worked up, do you think you're up for it?" Maelon asked. Shepard groaned internally at having to meet with the council so soon but figured that it'd be better to get out of the way whatever they want to talk about.

"That sounds good to me Maelon, send em in. The council last preferably." Maelon chuckled as he pocketed the blood sample and headed out the door, Liara then sat on the bed and grabbed his hand affectionately.

"Are you sure you're up for company? Our friends and the crew are one thing but do you really want to meet with the council?" she asked worriedly.

"I don't think anyone ever _wants_ to meet with the council, but it's better to get it out of the way now," Shepard reasoned as he lied back on the pillow closing his eyes slightly. Liara knelt on the bed towards Shepard and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. He opened his eyes and returned the kiss smiling as they separated just as they heard a knock on the door. After getting permission from Shepard the door opened to reveal Garrus and Tali, at seeing him lying on the bed with Liara standing at his side, they both let out relieved sighs as they ran to the opposite side of the bed to approach them.

"Shepard, thank the Ancestors you're ok!" Tali said gratefully as she gave him a gentle hug. Garrus, while not as openly affectionate was just as happy to see his friend recovered.

"Damn Shepard. You used to give me shit about my looks after that rocket him me back on Omega, but compared to you I was Prince Charming." Shepard let out a strained laugh as he looked back at his friend and said,

"Nice to know you finally look better than me, all it took was getting hit by a Reaper beam," Shepard joked. Shepard than turned his attention back to Tali. "Liara told me you and the Geth are working on the Relays, how's that coming along?"

"Well not me working on it, but every other Quarian has been working on the Relay with the Geth ever since the war ended." Tali explained.

"Any progress?" Shepard asked.

"Tremendous actually, thanks to the Geth we just finished repairs on the Charon relay and our sending a Geth ship to test it. I can't imagine how long it would have taken without their help, but it looks like we'll be able to reconnect the galaxy in a matter of months if not sooner."

"That's impressive," Shepard said surprised.

"Oh that's not even the best part," Garrus said enthusiastically urging Tali to continue.

"What is it?" Shepard asked.

"The Primarch has requested Geth and Quarian aid on repairing the buildings on Palaven and a number of Turian colonies, after seeing the fast work they did on Earth cities he thinks it'd gratefully benefit the rebuilding of the galaxy. Keelah he's paying us _billions_ of credits for the labor, and it doesn't even end there! We've received messages from the Asari Matriarchs and the current leader of the Salarians to do the same for them; it's a lot to take in."

"That's amazing Tali," Liara exclaimed followed by Shepard's nods of agreement. Garrus took Tali's hand and whispered something into her ear, and Shepard new Tali was smiling and blushing.

"Don't you have to worry about there not being enough Geth? Or the fact that they might not want to work?" Shepard asked, a little worried now. Tali shook her head,

"No, after the Primarch asked the Admirals for help we asked the Geth if they'd have any objection, all they said was that they were willing to do anything the 'Creators' wished of them," she replied air quoting the Geth title for the Quarians. "And besides, thanks to the Reaper upgrade there's definitely not a shortage of Geth programs, maybe of Geth platforms but that's being resolved quickly," Tali assured.

"As fun as the sound of millions of Geth roaming freely sounds, I just want to retire somewhere warm and live off the royalties from the vids." Garrus mused winking at Shepard. Thinking he was serious Tali looked up at him and said,

"You know, Rannoch is a relatively warm planet. I'm sure that your _connections _with the Admiralty Boardcould get you a deal on some land," Tali mused playfully.

"I may just have to look into that," Garrus returned. After a few more minutes of small talk Garrus and Tali left the room and made way for Grunt and Wrex.

"Damn Shepard that's twice you've died now, starting to think you might have some Krogan in you," Wrex declared as he gave Shepard a very firm handshake.

"That's my Battlemaster, gets hit by a laser and comes back for seconds. Nice." Grunt said approvingly.

"I don't think I'm willing to get shot at by a Reaper again Grunt. Enough for a Krogan life time in fact," Shepard said with a mocking tone. Grunt simply shrugged and said neutrally,

"Whatever you say Shepard, but it was always fun having something to shoot at constantly. I'm gonna miss it."

"Just wait until Tuchanka is repaired, there'll be plenty to shoot at." Wrex assured the young Krogan.

"Are the Geth helping repair Tuchanka to Wrex?" Shepard asked.

"No, the Krogan need to do things themselves. The last time we accepted aid from technologies we didn't understand it led to the Krogan Rebellions and the Genophage. No this time the Krogan are going to do it right: Our way." Wrex said confidently.

"I'm looking forward to it Wrex," Shepard said shaking the Krogan's hand again. After kicking Grunt out for trying to get Shepard out of bed to drink with some of his squad mates the two Krogan were replaced by Kaidan.

"Glad to see you're alright Commander," Kaidan said shaking his hand gently.

"Back at you Major," Shepard replied cheerfully before speaking up in a serious tone. "Have you heard what it is what the Council wants?" he asked intently. Kaidan shook his head as he frowned.

"No, all I know is they've been trying to reach you ever since Cerberus revealed your location. They tried getting into your room while you were still comatose but between Admiral Hackett telling them to wait for you to recover and looking at the door past Grunt's shot gun, I'm starting to think that it's something big."

"Well that can't be good," Shepard mused to himself.

"No it can't," Kaidan agreed hearing the Commander. "But the other Spectres are on your side and have been refusing the councils orders to force their way into the hospital. I'd bet they'd be willing to leave the Spectres if you asked them to Commander."

"Let's not jump to any conclusions now, but how's Joker? I would have thought he'd have come with you." Kaidan shot a worried glance at Liara who returned it; Shepard could tell that there was something they weren't telling him.

"What's wrong with Joker?" he asked both of them. It took a few moments but Liara finally answered,

"It's EDI… Joker knows that it's your fault that she, well, died." Liara exclaimed sadly. Shepard sighed sadly as he felt his heart drop for his friend. He had meant to tell Joker what happened to EDI himself, but now that he heard it from someone else it didn't look like Joker would want to come by to chat.

"I'm sorry Shepard it's my fault," Kaidan admitted. "I told how you destroyed the Reapers after Liara told me and he must of overheard us,"

"It's alright Kaidan, he was bound to find out eventually. I just wanted to be the one to tell him." Shepard admitted. Kaidan nodded sadly before a knock was heard on the door. Not waiting for a reply the door opened revealing Admiral Hackett in his army blues, looking as serious as he did boarding the Normandy before the final fight with the Reapers began.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said genuinely as he closed the door behind him. At seeing the Admiral Kaidan immediately straightened and saluted, Shepard did his best to sit straighter and copied Kaidan's salute which the Admiral returned with an "at ease"

"Admiral Hackett, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Liara asked calmly. Shepard could tell that she suspected something by the Admiral's sudden appearance and her worry worried him. The Admiral stood at the foot of Shepard's bed and looked at the two lovers as he spoke.

"Shepard I wish I could have given you more time to rest but the council is forcing their way here as we speak, there demanding to speak with you immediately for a debriefing and to talk about a new assignment."

"He just recovered from saving the galaxy and they want to send him off somewhere?" Liara asked angrily.

"They wouldn't disclose the information with me but I have the feeling its more of a diplomatic assignment. None the less I came here to say that whatever you decide to do you have the complete support of the Alliance: Admiral." The title caught Shepard by surprise and he found himself looking at Hackett with his mouth agape.

"Admiral?" he asked in surprise.

"That's right Shepard, after saving Earth, humanity and the entire god damn galaxy from the Reapers a promotion is the least we can do for you. We'll run through the details later, but know that the other Admirals and I will back whatever decision you choose to take with the council." Hackett gave Shepard a salute, which he returned still in awe when Maelon entered the room with a disgruntled look on his face.

"The council is outside your door now Commander, your Krogan friends are keeping them away for the moment. Would you like me to send them away?" Shepard looked from Hackett to Liara to Kaidan and then nodded to Maelon, ready for what was to come.

"Send them in Maelon," he said strongly. Maelon nodded and left the room for a moment. Kaidan got up from where he had been seated and headed for the door.

"I think it's best if I'm not in the room for this, I am still a Council Spectre and my being here might peeve them somehow. I'll be outside if you need me. Admirals." He said with a salute, Shepard could have sworn he saw a quick smile on his face as he saluted Shepard and returned the Salute with a smile on his face. Just moments after Kaidan left the door swung open as the Councilors strolled into the room with their heads held high like they owned the place. Their guards remained outside due to the strong recommendation of Wrex and Grunt who took aim at the guards who tried to walk in. When the guards saw that their respective councilors made no move to allow them in they remained outside the room keeping a wary eye on the two Krogan as the door was shut. It was Tevos, the Asari Councilor, who spoke first.

"It is good to see that you have recovered Commander Shepard, with-"

"It's Admiral Shepard now Councilor," Hackett interrupted casually. Tevos turned to him as if just realizing that he was in the room before giving an understood nod to the Admiral.

"Admiral Shepard then. As I was saying, with the more threatening aspects of the war over we now need to focus on rebuilding the galaxy. To unite it once again, if not more so than before."

"I agree with you Councilor, but don't take me for a fool. I think it's safe to say that we all know there's a reason why the council was so intent on meeting with me, so why don't we just play with all our cards on the table then," Shepard suggested plainly. Tevos looked taken aback while the Turian Councilor, Sparactus, took over for Tevos.

"Very well then. To put it mildly you've opened a lot of doors, as you humans say, in making alliances throughout the galaxies. While they were important and well needed during war times now that were no longer at war we need to consider how to maintain control with these new elements put into play." Shepard knew exactly what Sparactus was talking about but decided to play ignorant to see what the Councilors would say if pressed for information.

"What are you getting at?" he asked bluntly.

"Well it goes without saying that you're dealings with the 'Pirate Queen' Aria T'Loak could leave us with minimal problems at best. While her soldiers were welcome in Citadel Space during the war how can we ensure that they'll return to the Terminus Systems?"

"Aria gave me her word that she'd keep her men in check, and I trust that she will do just that."

"I agree with you Com- excuse me, Admiral." Tevos said supporting. "In some of our more secretive dealings with Aria she has always kept her word, but you can understand are concern with the added amount of pirates in our system."

"Well if you trust that she'd remove her men as she said why bring it up? There's obviously something else you're trying to say that you're too nervous to bring up," Liara mentioned coolly. This earned her cold stares from Tevos and Sparactus but Valern, the Salarian Councilor, spoke up sounding angrily about something; but his anger wasn't aimed at Shepard or Liara.

"What my fellow colleagues are worried about is that now with the Reapers dealt with there are a number of new variables that could threaten the power of the Council." He said angrily.

"So the Krogan and the Quarian then?" Shepard asked, aiming a little ice towards Tevos and Sparactus. Before one of them had a chance to speak Valern spoke up again saying,

"Not so much the Quarians as the Geth actually,"

"Councilor Valern!" Sparactus hissed angrily as his mandibles clicked angrily together.

"What, am I wrong?" Valern demanded turning to Sparactus. "Speak to the Admiral truthfully or I will," he said with enough finality to cause Sparactus to growl at him. Tevos put her hands up at the two, calming them, before looking back at Shepard.

"What Valern says, while extremely blunt, is true. We worry now that with the Krogan cured of the Genophage and the Quarians now allied with the Geth that they may one day wish to attack the Citadel for … obvious reasons."

"Revenge," Valern clarified earning him an emotionless stare from Tevos.

"And what is it you want from me then?" Shepard asked calmly but sternly.

"What we _need_," Tevos said emphasizing the last word, "is a way to insure that the Krogan and the Quarian don't ever want to attack the Citadel. We believe that you can help with that."

"Well you're wrong," Shepard said bluntly causing Tevos to flinch. Before she had time to speak Shepard held up his hand and pointed to the door. "If you're so worry about the Citadel being attacked the leader of the Krogan is right outside the door."

"Shepard do you expect us to go to the Krogan and the Quarian in a position of weakness?" Sparactus demanded. "Every species has been hit hard in this war but the ones that will be able to recover quickly enough to cause problems are the Krogan and the Geth, and if the galaxy sees us going to them in a position of weakness it would more than temp the Terminus system to attack us." Shepard felt his temper rising and his blood boil at hearing the Council's ignorance. He was grateful that Valern at least _seemed _to see the bigger picture but it wasn't enough to calm him down. Turning to Liara he said calmly,

"Can you go and find Tali and tell her I need to see her? And tell Wrex to come in for a minute." As Liara nodded and walked past the Council Tevos looked at Shepard almost angrily and demanded,

"What are you doing Shepard?"

"I'm doing my duty as a Council Spectre, insuring that the Council doesn't get destroyed, no matter the cost." He said angrily as Wrex came into the room.

"Shepard any problems? Need me to butt heads with any of these Pyjacks?" Sparactus and Tevos began speaking angrily at the same time until Admiral Hackett stood up and yelled angrily at the two.

"I won't have any arguing! We have a recovering Admiral who, under doctor recommendation, has agreed to meet with the Council. Earth is under Martial Law at the moment and if the two of you don't start acting more like diplomats instead of rabid Varren I'll have you vacated from the planet! Am I understood?" Valern smiled the look Shepard was trying to suppress as the councilors looked at Hackett angrily with bugged eyes. When they finally calmed down and nodded Hackett looked at Shepard and urged him to continue.

"The floor is yours Admiral," he said confidently. Shepard nodded before looking at Wrex who was visibly amused so far.

"Wrex the council here is worried that with the War over and their forces weakened that the Krogan are going to start another rebellion, would you like to say anything to them?" Wrex's amused look vanished as his red eyes narrowed as he turned to the council and snarled.

"You worthless Pyjacks will never change." He said angrily. "Every time heavy muscle is needed to do something the 'Council Races' can't you come to the Krogan and beg for are help. But the minute it's done with, the last body falls, you immediately look for a way to put us down. You sterilized my people to end the Krogan Rebellions and for all rights I should pick a fight with the Council." As Wrex spoke the Councilors visibly stiffened, even Valern had a worried look on his face. Fortunately for them Wrex wasn't finished speaking.

"But I'm not going to declare war against the Council; we survived sterilization for over a thousand years. Now that were cured most of us simply want to expand and start anew, better ourselves for future generations; but I can promise right now that if the council even _thinks_ about pulling another stunt like the Genophage then all bets are off." As the Council froze and muttered quietly to themselves for a few moments Councilor Valern was the first to break off and turn to Wrex.

"Your right Wrex, that is how the Council has treated the Krogan but up to this point we've never met a leader who wanted to end the fighting and try to better the Krogan. Tell us, as a sign of good faith, what would it take to remove _most_ hostilities between the Krogan and the other races?" Wrex didn't even need a moment to speak before saying quite plainly what it was he wanted.

"First of all, ALL the land that the Krogan had before the rebellion has to be returned to us. Keep that damned Asari colony that started it though, I don't know what they saw in it anyway." Before Sparactus or Tevos could complain Valern nodded his head.

"Done, many of those planets are Salarian colonies now anyways. I'll speak to the new Dalatrass once she's appointed and have the colonies evacuated."

"They don't have to leave their homes," Wrex said abruptly startling Valern. "We won't force anyone off of their homes, the Krogan are better than that. I know for a fact that most of our old planets are still uninhabited except for old merc groups that have already rejoined with the Krogan on Tuchanka. We will take those planets back, along with the right to claim new planets as colonies." Valern was speechless for a few moments so Tevos took the chance to reapply her dominance in the conversation.

"We will see your old territories are returned, as to the right to colonize new planets we will… have to write something up for legal issues."

"Fine, as long as I _actually _get a say in it. Next, and this is UNnegotiable. I demand that the Krogan have a seat on the council." The room was silent for a moment before Sparactus yelled angrily at Wrex.

"Absolutely not! The Krogan has no right to make such demands of the council!"

"This Krogan has a name Turian! And last I checked you wanted to appease the Krogan." Wrex growled angrily pointing at Sparactus violently. Shepard turned to Wrex and tried to calm the situation down.

"Wrex I understand your angry, but why do you want a seat on the council?"

"It's simple Shepard, the only way it can be assured that the Krogan get a fair shake is if one of us is up their calling the shots with the rest of them."

"No, it will not happen. We will return your embassy on the Citadel but any more than that-" Sparactus was interrupted by an angry, animal like growl from Wrex that seemed to scare everyone in the room.

"What gives YOU the right to make that choice?" Wrex Demanded. "I know how the law works on new races joining the Council. They must be able to contribute to the Council army and they must receive either a majority or same number vote allowing them in." Sparactus shot a venomous glare at Wrex but fortunately for him Valern spoke up.

"Wrex, I agree with what you're saying. Unfortunately we are unable to vote due to the Human Councilor position not being filled at the moment; any vote we took would be incomplete."

"I recommend Admiral Hackett for the position," Shepard said instantly gesturing to the Admiral. Admiral Hackett looked towards Shepard and then at the Councilors and said bluntly,

"If the Council is willing I will act as Councilor for Humanity until a more appropriate candidate can be found." Tevos and Sparactus looked at one another worriedly before the door to the room opened. Everyone turned around to see Liara and Tali at the doorway; Tali froze when everyone looked at her but she walked in after Liara, rubbing her wrists in her nervousness.

"Ahh Tali, make a list. The Councils running scared and giving stuff away to save their asses." Wrex said angrily gesturing at Sparactus as he spoke. Sparactus growled angrily before moving passed the others to go directly in front of Wrex saying angrily,

"We aren't giving you anything yet, _Krogan_,"

" . URDNOT WREX!" Wrex shouted angrily drawing his shotgun and pointing it at Sparactus. Sparactus pulled out a pistol from his belt while Tevos glowed at the activation of her biotics. Shepard had had enough. As everyone in the room argued not paying any attention to him Shepard shouted as loud as he could,

"ENOUGH!" Everyone turned to see Shepard standing up beside the bed looking angrily at the Councilors and Wrex. He noticed Liara and Tali's looks of worry at him standing in his fragile condition (and was greatly regretting standing due to the pain shooting up his body) but slowly walked to the Councilors in a similar way that Joker walked and stared at them all angrily.

"You're all acting like a bunch of children! Sparactus Wrex had already made deals with the Primarch for old Krogan owned worlds under Turian control, you already lost that battle. As for Wrex wanting the Krogan to have a representative on the Council, that's fair considering that the Krogan were one of the more active races in the war, even more so than the Turians in fact. The same could be said about the Quarians and the Geth, instead of threatening and insulting Wrex you should be willing to negotiate if it means peace." Just as Wrex was laughing at Sparactus's humiliation Shepard turned on his friend.

"And Wrex, you're saying that you want to better the Krogan. How is picking a fight with the Turian Councilor going to help that?" To anyone else in the room it may have looked like Wrex was ready to charge Shepard, but for the three people there who knew him they knew that Shepard had wounded the Krogan's pride in being right.

"We all need to stand united if we're going to help improve the galaxy. We just won the most dangerous war of history, do we really want to celebrate it by starting a war among one another?" Everyone looked at one another shamefully as they holstered weapons and powered down.

"The Admiral is right," Sparactus said finally holstering his weapon he looked back at Wrex and said sincerely, "I apologize for provoking you, Wrex." Wrex nodded in agreement and said in a calmer manner,

"As do I Sparactus." As the Councilors finally began to calm down the door opened one last time to reveal Maelon walking into the room. When he actually saw the condition of the room to say he was flustered would be an understatement. When he saw that Shepard was standing however, saying he was furious would be an understatement.

"Why the hell is my patient standing? He should be in bed recovering! All of you out, there's far too many of you in here. Out. Out. OUT!" The Council and Admiral Hackett was then forced out of the room, but not before the leaders promised to meet later to finally put together an agreement on the new terms of peace. The only people left in the room now were Shepard, Liara, Tali, Maelon and Wrex who was helping Shepard get back into bed."

"Always said you had a quad Shepard, not many people would stand up to an armed, angry Krogan like that."

"He shouldn't have been standing at all!" Liara shouted angrily as Shepard was finally eased into the bed. "What were you thinking John?" she asked now, more desperate than angry.

"Well if someone hadn't done something we would have needed a few more new Councilors," Shepard argued as he sighed in relief from the vanished pain.

"Well whatever you did you most likely set your physical therapy back a week," Maelon said stubbornly as he readjusted Shepard's IV which had been taken out when Shepard stood up.

"What was going on anyways?" Tali asked still unsure of what was going on.

"The Council was worried the Krogan would give them the ass kicking they deserved or that the Quarians were going to sick the Geth on them. Long story short: first day of negotiations, kinda off to a rocky start," Wrex said casually as he took a seat in the chair Hackett had been sitting in.

"Yeah but still Wrex, I'm on your side and everything but wasn't it a bit much to demand a seat on the council?" Shepard asked.

"Shepard my people have been suffering for over a thousand years due to the Genophage, if the Krogan don't get a significant seat of power there's no guarantee that we can be protected, and after us dropping boots on every major home world to help with evacuations I think we've earned it." Shepard sighed but nodded just so not to anger his friend, he saw Wrex's point but worried if he was looking at it the right way.

"Well they won't have to worry much about the Quarians or the Geth," Tali said simply gaining stares from the others.

"Why's that?" Wrex asked suspiciously.

"For 300 years the Quarians lived without aid from the council in the Migrant Fleet, now with the help of the Geth and our home world returned to us we will need outside aid even less."

"It'd probably be smart to be on good terms with the Council though Tali, we wouldn't want them to get any ideas to attack Rannoch," Liara said helpfully.

"I know, but at least with the Geth being hired to make repairs to countless planets and colonies we should be fine for a while. But your probably right," Tali agreed. Maelon than stood up from working the IV and turned to Wrex and Tali.

"I'm sorry but I need to speak to John and Liara about a personal matter, I'm going to have to ask for the two of you to leave."

"Is everything all right Maelon?" Liara asked worriedly as she took Shepard's hand.

"I'll explain everything; it's just a sensitive matter."

"Well I can tell when I'm not wanted," Wrex said abruptly as he stood up from his seat. "I need to go speak to the Primarch anyways about what happened. I'll leave Grunt outside if you need him Shepard, see you around. You to Liara."

"I better go find Garrus to," Tali said gently. After saying their good byes the two left the room leaving the couple and Maelon alone in the room.

"So what the problem?" Shepard asked, squeezing Liara's hand assuringly.

"It's not necessarily a problem so much as a… unheard of phenomena."

"What do you mean?" Liara asked worriedly. Reaching into his jacket's inner pocket Maelon pulled out a data pad and held it out for Liara to grab. When she took it she began reading it and her eyes widened as she continued reading until she finally looked up at Maelon with an incredulous look and asked,

"Is this for real? Are you positive?"

"As positive as I can be, given this new data." Maelon admitted.

"Would someone mind telling me what's going on?" Shepard asked impatiently, not sure what the two were talking about. Maelon took the data pad back from Liara and pocketed it as he spoke.

"After Javik performed his Janigri Kai ritual on you I ran routine tests to check on your organs to see if they recovered correctly. They did and, while I didn't believe it at first, they were also strengthened. Enhanced if you would, they were working much better than a regular human's organs. I needed more information so after I drew your blood earlier I ran a few more tests on it and, well Shepard there's no easy way to say this but by all biological means of reason: You're a Prothean." The words hit Shepard in surprise as he looked at Maelon with an incredulous stare.

"Wait, you mean to tell me I'm not human anymore?"

"Not necessarily, you still have all the genetic traits of your parents and family lineage, but all of your organs, muscles, and biological factors: all have Prothean traits now."

"So… I'm a hybrid?" Shepard asked in confusion. Maelon scratched at his chin in thought but eventually said,

"I guess that's the most simplistic way to put it but, yes."

"So what does this mean than Maelon?" Shepard asked, anxious to know what had happened to him.

"Well due to the ritual you have the strength and knowledge of Javik and the Avatars before him. So I'm assuming that along with an increase in physical and mental strength that you may find yourself with minor biotic abilities, and that's not the best part yet. The icing on the cake as you humans say,"

"Maelon don't leave me hanging here, what's so amazing?" Shepard seemed to yell.

"Well, along with the biological upgrades and from what my tests and data show, your life span has been significantly increased."

"By how much?" Shepard asked. Maelon looked between Liara and Shepard and when he saw Liara smile (who already knew from reading the data pad) couldn't help but release a large grin himself as he looked back at Shepard and said excitedly, and almost giddily,

"You're looking to live at least another 500 years Shepard."

AN: CLIFF HANGER! Thanks for reading everyone; I threw in a lot of information in this chapter so if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. Please review everyone and tell me what you think, you know I live for those and I'll have the next chapter up ASAP. So until then.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7: A Galaxy Made Anew

It had taken two months to negotiate treaties between the council, the Krogan and Quarians that made everyone relatively happy. The Quarians demands were simple and required little from the Council except for the admittance that they wronged the Quarian people when they refused to aid them 300 years ago. In return the Quarians had gotten the Council to agree that the Quarians were no longer a part of Council Space, they were an independent nation that would need very little aid from outside systems. They still agreed to have the Geth repair the number of planets and colonies that had been destroyed in the war, after the negotiations had finally finished they had managed to repair most of the Mass Relays and numerous colonies and worlds that existed in each system. Many people at first were hesitant to allow the Geth onto their worlds but after seeing their quick and excellent workmanship they quickly forgot any prejudice against the Quarians and their creations. Thanks to the Geth's quick work, and thanks to the colonies and leaders of the galaxy willing to pay for the Geth to come to their planets faster the Quarians soon earned a small yet quick fortune of 7.5 Billion credits in those two months alone, they eventually had to hire Volus accountants to help them plan and assess how to spend and use the money for the colonies in their own system. It may not have been a lot in comparison to the other major races but the Quarians were used to living off of almost nothing and thrived easily, the credits kept rolling in as the Geth continued working.

The matter with the Krogan however did not end as easily as the Quarians though, where their negotiations took little more than a week Wrex fought for the demands he had made previously in Shepard's room like a seasoned diplomat. He demanded the right to colonization of new planets, the right to retake planets taken from the Krogan after the Krogan Rebellions and for the Krogan to have a seat on the Council. Even if the Council had been willing to grant his fist two demands they would fight tooth and nail to keep the Krogan off of the Council thankfully with the help of Shepard and Hackett the Council finally began making concessions. First the Krogan were allowed to retake worlds that had been taken from them after the Krogan Rebellions, and true to his word Wrex didn't go after the worlds that already had major colonies on it. The Council also gave colonization right to any worlds formerly owned by the Rachni and any beyond their Relay, since the Krogan were the only race who could possibly live on those harsh planets formerly owned by the Rachni they felt there would be little loss in giving the Planets to the Krogan. Even after they came to agreement on this the matter of the Krogan having a seat on the Council was a sore subject that the Council would seemingly never succumb to.

"My people did more for each of your worlds during this war, more than any other race did to get a seat on the council!" Wrex had argued angrily. "No offense to the humans," he added as Hackett and Shepard waved him off.

"Yes Wrex, while we admit the Krogan were… helpful in evacuating our home planets, it would have been a matter of time until we found another solution if the need had come," Sparactus snarled snidely trying to hide the fact that the Turians had _needed_ the Krogan. Wrex was outraged at the councilor's words and shot up from the table, slamming his hands on the table nearly breaking it under the force of his anger.

"Are you fucking SERIOUS," Wrex yelled at the Councilors. Shepard had grown uneasy at this point, in the entire time he had known Wrex he had rarely gotten angry, and now that he was seeing his friend in a straight up blood rage he could admit that he was scared.

"If there was any chance that you shit slinging Pyjaks could have evacuated your worlds without the Krogan then you wouldn't have cured the Genophage, or do I need to call Primarch Victus down here to explain what happened," Wrex had threatened.

"You will leave the Primarch out of this!" Sparactus shouted standing angrily across the table from Wrex.

"Enough! Both of you!" Valern shouted standing between the two. "Sparactus you can't act as if the Krogan weren't the deciding factor of saving many colonies and planets, most of them under the Turian Hierarchy. To say there were other options when your Primarch sacrificed so much to get Krogan aid is an insult to your race!" The Salarian declared pointing at Sparactus. Sparactus glowered angrily at Valern and Wrex but sat down putting an end to the conversation before Valern began speaking again.

"Now I vote that we move to give the Krogan a seat on the council, on the condition that Wrex is not the Councilor. Can you agree to that Wrex?"

"Fine by me," Wrex said nodding his agreement. Ever since Mordin had sacrificed himself to cure the Genophage his opinion of Salarians improved, slightly.

"Humanity also agrees to those terms," Hackett said casually staring at Tevos and Sparactus, daring them to argue. In the end the Council eventually conceded and "invited" the Krogan to join them on the Council. As everyone left the room Wrex and Shepard walked out of the room casually until they were out of ear shot of the others where Wrex pulled Shepard into a Krogan bear hug, Shepard could have sworn he heard several of his ribs crack after Wrex had put him down.

"WE DID IT!" He had shouted as he spun Shepard around in his arms. When he finally put Shepard down he spoke with a fire in his eyes that Shepard had never seen before. "This is the start of a new era Shepard, and I owe a lot of that to you. You have the eternal gratitude of the Krogan people, if you ever need anything you let us know."

"I appreciate that Wrex, I hope everything works out for you," and simply put it did.

Upon returning to Tuchanka the Krogan who had fought in the war that returned were marked as heroes, but there work wasn't done. The Krogan, now with the war over and the Genophage cured, had to work on something they never thought they'd need to: rebuilding. The Krogan began working in a force to make repairs to their falling apart home world; true to his word Wrex would not allow the Geth to take the lead in the rebuilding, insisting that they needed to do this for themselves. Although he did allow several engineer platforms to work on the Shroud, where upon its finish Wrex had requisitioned that a statue be erect before it of the Salarian that had cured the Genophage. With the Krogan quickly repopulating their numbers they began moving to the planets returned to them by the Council, each Krogan ready to help rebuild their returned home to start anew. While Tuchanka was rebuilt entirely by Krogan the Colony planets had already been somewhat repaired by the Geth who left with no bad qualms when the arriving Krogan requested to repair their homes themselves. As mate to the Krogan who had united the clans and helped cure the Genophage, Bakara was chosen as the representative for the Krogan on the Council. She accepted the position readily, but only after she had birthed her first few children. There were eight in the birthing and true to her word before she named her first born daughter Mordin, in respect to the Salarian who had befriended her when she was alone and cured her people.

The rest of Shepard's band of friends split up after the war, getting back to their old ways but promising to keep in touch. Kasumi, taking Shepard up on his suggestion, had cleaned out the work station of the Crucible project of all the high selling pieces of tech she could carry which was a surprising amount. At learning of the missing tech the engineers put in a request for her capture and immediate arrest from the Spectres. Their case was accepted immediately by Spectre Jondum Bau, who was both excited and determined to meet Ms. Goto.

Zaeed had flown off after saying goodbye to a vacation planet in the Terminus System where he now spends most of his time at a bar called the Killer Shot, and keeps in shape taking on the odd job that comes up in his portfolio.

Grunt returned to Tuchanka with Wrex after the war where he was offered several mating contracts immediately after landing on the planet. Unfortunately due to Okeer's work on him before his birth he was now the only Krogan to still have the Genophage. However with the female's now high fertility rate it wouldn't be as difficult for Grunt to eventually have a child. On Wrex's recommendation Grunt began working as a Krogan Black Op team, where he and the rest of Aralakh Company would undertake missions deemed too dangerous for most Krogan.

James eventually got a hold of the officer that recommended him for the N7 program where it became official; his training would begin immediately where he would quickly climb the ranks.

After Shepard's promotion to Admiral, Captain Kaidan Alenko took over his duty of running the Normandy as a member of the Systems Alliance and as a Spectre for the Council. While his methods were a little more conservative than Shepard's he quickly became well known in all parts of Citadel Space and a valued member of the Spectres.

Joker remained the Normandy's pilot but was never the same after EDI's death. He unfortunately blamed Shepard for killing her refusing to see that it was the only way to officially kill the Reapers.

Tali and Garrus were forced to their home worlds to help with the repairs and to show leadership. They remained in contact and visited each other as often as they could. Garrus was immediately recommended by Primarch Victus as a Spectre Candidate and was quickly approved by the Council, allowing him to visit Tali on Rannoch more often.

As for Shepard and Liara, as soon as the negotiations were finished and Earth mostly repaired thanks to the Geth Shepard put in his letter of resignation, where he was happily given an honorable discharge, full pension and the right to maintain his title until his death. They now reside happily on the newly repaired Thessia at Liara's child hood home on Armali.

Their story starts now.

Shepard was sitting in the lounge chair in the backyard of Liara's child hood home. It was a beautiful house that looked very similar to his apartment on the Citadel, just designed for Asari. There were three bedrooms on the main floor not counting the Master Bedroom that had its own bathroom and walk in closet, a very spacious kitchen and dining area, a large living room. On the upper level of the home there was an office and weapons closet where the couple kept their weapons and armor along with two guest rooms each with their own bathroom. On arriving to the house a week ago they had been surprised that the Geth had managed to erase almost every sign of the Reaper attack in a matter of weeks. Liara even admitted that she couldn't see any physical change in the house but that it didn't feel the same with her mother gone, she hadn't lived in her child hood home for over half a century, and she admitted that it was a little strange but it was a peaceful home. Her favorite part of the home (and Shepard's too coincidentally) was that in the backyard of the house was a beautiful view of the beach where Shepard was sitting now.

The water seemed to glow at night and Liara explained that it was due to the high level of eezo on Thessia. Shepard sat in his chair silently with a cold drink in his hand as he watched the sunset. He was wearing the average 'vacation' outfit, a button shirt that was open down the middle revealing Shepard's chest and a pair of shorts and sandals that were kicked somewhere into the sand. He was wearing the leg braces Maelon had given him and was grimly awaiting the time he could finally walk without them, which according to Maelon may be a year at the least. His cane was propped against his chair and Shepard detested it almost as much as the braces, but Liara and Maelon both insisted that they were necessary and knew arguing would just be a losing battle. He sat in silence staring at the water as the sun began to set when he heard footsteps coming from the behind him. He turned around and smiled to see Liara approaching him in a skin tight, light purple dress that easily complimented Liara's form.

"Care for some company?" Liara asked when she approached his seat.

"Only if it's you," he said flirtingly as he shot her a smile. Liara returned the smile and gently sat in Shepard's lap, he instantly wrapped his free arm around her waist as the two watched the sunset together. The two sat in silence for a few moments before Liara gestured to the drink in his hand.

"What are you drinking?" she asked curiously as he brought the glass to his lips. After taking a sip he looked back at Liara and said, "30 year old scotch, Zaeed sent it to us." He offered his bond mate a taste who made a face as she shook her head.

"I don't know what it is but human alcoholic beverages taste revolting to me,"

"You like wine though," he said pointedly with a small laugh. Liara returned the laugh as she corrected him.

"Yes, _Asari_ red wine, made on one of our colonies on Selvos," she corrected good naturedly. Shepard smiled as he made an over exaggerated sigh after her explanation.

"Are all Asari this picky or am I just lucky?" he teased.

"No, you're just lucky," Liara said pointedly as she rested her head on his chest. Shepard began massaging Liara's back with his hand as they watched the sun set seemingly behind the water. As the sun lowered the water began to glow a luminescent cyan color, it mixed extremely well with the color of the orange and red of the setting sun. As the two watched the sunset in silence Liara finally said in a hushed voice,

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Shepard turned to look at her and said sincerely,

"It doesn't measure up to my view," Liara turned to face him quizzically and blushed with an embarrassed smile when she realized that he was talking about her. She moved her face close to his to kiss him and stopped abruptly right above his lips as she whispered seductively,

"Flatterer,"

"I try," he whispered back as he closed the distance between them and kissed her passionately. She returned the kiss in full as they wrapped their arms around each other in their embrace, Shepard careful as to not drop his drink; the two took in one another's form when Shepard felt Liara try to merge minds with hers in a meld. He immediately allowed her access to his mind where their combined thoughts began swirling together showing the immense love and trust they had for one another. Suddenly Shepard smiled through his kiss as an idea came to his mind. Liara, sensing the thought as soon as Shepard did, pulled away from him and looked at him with a playful smile.

"You wouldn't dare," she said playfully. Shepard smiled playfully in return and downed the rest of his drink. He then picked Liara up by the waist and stood up throwing her over his shoulder with a squeal as he slowly hobbled to the water. The water was warm to the touch as he wadded waist high into the water.

"John you better not," Liara warned as he positioned her into his arms as if he was holding a child.

"Maybe you should convince me then," Shepard suggested smiling. Liara gave him a smoldering stare as she kissed him again equally as passionately as before. Shepard took a step back from the intensity and tripped over his own feet, sending him and Liara (with a short scream) falling into the water. When they emerged from underneath the glowing water the two of them were laughing ecstatically. They embraced each other again, dripping wet and waist deep in water when Liara whispered into his ear.

"I love you John Shepard,"

"I love you Liara T'soni," The two kissed one last time as the sun finally set leaving only the glow of the water as their source of light. At that moment, there was nowhere else either of them would rather be. They had fought a seemingly unwinnable war and were victorious; they were now able to spend the rest of their lives together. There was nothing else either of them could have asked for.

AN: Ok everyone I know that this chapter seemed like it would be the end but don't worry: it's not. As always I will have the next chapter up as soon as possible so please review and tell me what you think, so until then.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8: Request From Special Tactics and Reconnaissance

Shepard and Liara eyed one another vividly as they waited for one another to make a move. They had been consumed in their challenge for several hours now none willing to back down and admit defeat. Every time Shepard had seemed to obtain the upper hand Liara would respond with a surprising retaliation, and vice versa.

"Just admit it Liara, I have you backed into a corner don't I?" he taunted as Liara stared at him with a cold stare.

"Please John, I am always several moves ahead of you," Liara assured him as she made her move. She reached down for her bishop as she took down the last of Shepard's Rooks that was placed strategically to protect his king.

"Check," Liara said seductively as Shepard cursed in frustration. They had playing chess on Oleg Petrovsky's chess board for the better part of the day and Shepard was getting frustrated that he hadn't been able to defeat Liara as quickly as he'd hoped. In fact, she was doing far better than he was; he had only his king, both of his bishops a knight and several pawns remaining while Liara still had both of her rooks, a bishop a knight, 2 pawns and her queen.

"It isn't over until the kingdom is toppled Liara," he assured as he was rewarded with a small laugh.

"Clever. Tell me, where did you learn to play chess? The Alliance?"

"No, actually it was back on Mindoir. I played it with my tutor at the time," Shepard said distractedly as he observed the board and tried to calculate any possible moves. He knew Liara was trying to distract him, cause him to make a mistake, but he was aware of her ways and ignored the seemingly subtle conversation. Finally Shepard sees a move that could win him the game, in taking out his rook Liara left her Queen wide open, destroying that would lead her King wide open and would permit him to corner her with his remaining pieces. Using one of his bishops he took out Liara's queen and crossed his arms with a smug smile on his face.

"Check," he said as he awaited Liara's realization that she had lost; instead she smiles in return and positioned her knight in between her king and his bishop.

"Check _mate_," she said happily as she leaned back in her seat with her arms behind her head. Shepard shot from his seat trying to find where he had gone wrong. When he realized his mistake he slapped his head in disbelief for falling for such a ruse. In sacrificing her Queen she was able to corner his king with the two rooks and the bishop she had positioned to protect her king.

"Damn!" He exclaimed in defeat as he flipped the board off the table earning him a laugh from Liara.

"Come now John, nobody likes a sore loser." She teased gently. Shepard couldn't help but chuckle poorly before shaking his head again unable to accept that he had lost.

"I just can't seem to win at this anymore," Shepard admitted. "First Traynor beat me and now you," he said with a sigh.

"Traynor? When did you two ever have time to place Chess?" Liara asked suspiciously. Shepard shrugged as he answered. "We started before curing the Genophage, and then when Aria sent me Petrovsky's board we played more often, she said she liked the feel of something hard in her hand over the GUI interface."

"I see," Liara said curtly as she got up from her seat and went into the kitchen. He could tell that something was amiss but he couldn't explain what. He followed her into the kitchen where he found Liara at the glass door in the back of the house looking out at the beach. Shepard hobbled over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Everything all right?" he asked concerned.

"Of course," Liara said quickly. "I just never knew that you and Traynor spent so much time together," It took a few seconds for Shepard to put two and two together but when he finally did he couldn't help but laugh.

"You aren't _jealous,_ are you?" Liara turned in Shepard's arm to face him and there was an angry blush growing on her face that was extremely hard for him not to laugh at.

"I most certainly am not jealous," Liara said angrily.

"Good," Shepard said now laughing as he pulled Liara closer to him as he whispered into her ear, "And besides, even if Traynor was interested in me there's no way that she'd be able to come between us."

"Flatter me all you want Shepard but it's going to take more than that to make me forgive you," Liara said teasingly, though visibly relieved by Shepard's words.

"I think I have a pretty good idea," Shepard said as he pulled Liara in for a kiss. Just as their lips brushed against one another they heard a knock coming from the door. They were intent on ignoring it until Glyph appeared from a data pad on the table.

"_Dr. T'soni there is a guest outside the door,"_ the VI announced. Shepard pulled away with a disappointed and confused look on his face.

"Does anyone even know were here?" he asked. He grew slightly worried when Liara shook her head. She then turned to her assistant and asked casually, "Glyph can you identify who it is at the door?"

"_No, there are no physical records of her currently. Although it is an Asari at the door and a slight bulge in her vest may hide a hand gun." _Shepard looked back at Liara who frowned slightly at Glyph's words. With the aid of his cane, and with Liara in close tow behind him, Shepard advanced to the door with Liara remaining hidden behind the wall. Shepard casually opened the door to reveal, as Glyph said, an Asari waiting at the door. She had a light purple complexion and a horizontal white line on the top and bottom of her face, she seemed to be wearing light armor and the bulge hiding her hand gun was obvious and non-hidden, however the Asari seemed to have no intention of attacking for she smiled when the door opened revealing Shepard.

"Admiral Shepard?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied still not completely used to his new title. The Asari reached into her vest and pulled out a familiar looking badge as she said, "Shayera Na'la, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance," she declared simply.

"A Spectre," Shepard announced to himself, even without having seen Liara nodding her head from the corner of his eye signaling she was telling the truth Shepard knew it to be true anyways, it was nearly impossible to make a fake badge, and even more so to obtain one.

"How can I help you Miss Na'la?" Shepard asked.

"On behalf of the Spectres I was sent to make you an offer, may I come in?" Shepard looked once to Liara and then back at Shayera as he stepped out of the door way, gesturing for the guest to enter the house. He led the guest over to where Liara and he had just been playing chess and sat across from her, Liara took a seat beside him with a protective look on her face.

"So Miss Na'la-"

"Please, Shayera," the Spectre insisted kindly.

"Ok Shayera, what can I do for you?"

"Well as you know Admiral, now that the Reapers have been defeated and things are finally settling down the crime rate is steadily returning to Council Space; and while there haven't been any crimes of serious note that require Spectre attention yet we would like to be prepared for when the inevitable _does_ happen."

"So you want me to rejoin the Spectres then?" Shepard asked bluntly. "I'm sorry, but I'd rather not be the Council's toy anymore," he replied with a small bit of harshness he did not mean to project. Thankfully Shayera seemed either undisturbed by it or she simply did not notice it.

"You misunderstand me Shepard. The Spectres don't want to reinstate you into out fold; they want you to lead them." Shayera's words sent Shepard aback for a moment, surprised by her words. Liara however remained cool and collect as she questioned the Spectre.

"I was under the impression that there was no command structure among the Spectres, and that you picked missions as you wished,"

"That is true, the Spectre usually do make their own decisions and follow the orders of no individual. But amongst ourselves we have agreed that there has always been the need for someone to issue commands in times of great crisis, in our war with the Reapers Jondum Bau was our leader as we coordinated attacks. We'd like the Admiral to fill that role now."

"But there's no longer a war," Shepard said pointedly. "That and I'm no longer in the prime condition I once was," Shepard admitted pointing to the leg braces and gesturing to the cane.

"You wouldn't be working in the field Admiral; it's for the most part a desk job. You would coordinate the Spectres in time of war and in peace times you would be the one who says what missions need to be taken and examine all the recruits trying to join the Spectres, although I warn you it is completely up to the Council to actually induce someone into the Spectres, but as long as they are qualified and have your approval they normally always do so."

"So I'm basically just picking what missions need to be done and who should become a Spectre?"

"More or less, but the Council has no say in what you do so it's an added bonus, what do you say?" Shepard looked over towards Liara who gave him a nod as she grabbed his hand. Shepard looked back at Shayera and said calmly and casually,

"No thanks," Shayera seemed as if she was about to say something else but she froze with her mouth still agape when she realized that Shepard turned down the offer.

"We're offering you the chance to lead the Spectres, and you're declining?" She almost shouted in disbelief. Shepard just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sorry," Shayera looked as if she was going to blow up from surprise but eventually calmed down enough to speak.

"And what would you have me tell the others when I say you don't want the job."

"Tell them the truth," Shepard answered honestly. "I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired of doing the best damn job I can and then having others like the Council not listen to me until it's too late. All I want to do is enjoy the rest of my life with my bond mate in peace." As he spoke he gave Liara's hand a squeeze and gave her a warm smile in which she returned. Shayera looked between the two of them before standing up from her seat.

"Very well Admiral I understand. I will alert the other Spectres of your decision." With her final words said the Asari Spectre walked out the door of the house and left silently without another word. As soon as they were aware that Shayera was gone (and after Liara made Glyph search the house for any bugs placed in the house) Liara turned to Shepard and asked in a confused voice,

"John when I nodded I meant that I'd support the decision for you to lead the Spectres, why did you turn them down?"

"Same reasons I told her, I'm tired of fighting. I'm ready for a nice, quiet life with my bond mate." Liara smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. As they kissed he brought his arms around her back and pulled her in tighter into their embrace. When they separated Liara looked onto Shepard with a teasing smile and said,

"Although I don't know how quiet your life will be being bonded to the Shadow Broker and all,"

"No more s then being bonded to the first human Spectre, responsible for destroying the Reapers," They both laughed in each other's arms for a few moments before Liara looked back to the chess board on the table and said in a suggestive voice,

"Are you up for a rematch?"

"You're on,"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9: New Journeys Begin; Part 1

It was to be a rough morning. Liara had known that the inevitable was coming and was now greatly regretting the fact the she hadn't spoken to Shepard sooner. He was still in bed asleep; one thing he loved about his retirement was his ability to sleep in. If she allowed him, he would sleep for 2 days straight without knowing. It was something many Asari went through, having a thousand year lifespan adds to the ability to stay awake longer and sleep in for several days with no problem. While tempted to leave their home while he slept she knew he would be angry and would find a way to follow her. It had been several months now (almost three) and Liara felt it was time to uphold her promise to Javik. She had promised him that he would take his corpse to a sole planet in the Cronian Nebula. She had gotten into contact with Kaidan weeks earlier and he had agreed to take Liara there on the Normandy as soon as his Spectre business on colonies in the Traverse System cleared up; he had informed her two days ago that he would await her in the docking port at Thessia today. Liara was nervous because she now had the difficult task of telling Shepard she was leaving for about a week and that he wouldn't be allowed to accompany her.

While Maelon said that his body was recovering steadily he was still weeks at the very least from wearing any form of armor and picking up arms. She knew that Shepard would insist on accompanying her to the Cronian Nebula insuring that he was in perfect health. She heard John's alarm clock go off and felt her heart beat rise as she heard him groan as he turned off the alarm clock.

_This is it,_ she thought to herself. _No turning back, I just have to look at him and lay down the law._ She heard him walk out of their bedroom and into the kitchen. He was in his robe and smiled as he saw his bond mate awake in the kitchen. He was however surprised to see her in her armored jacket, knowing that she only war that if she thought she'd be going into combat. _What's going on here?_ He thought to himself. Ignoring his thoughts he walked behind his bond mate and wrapped his arms around her waist affectionately. She jumped, surprised by his touch but then wrapped her arms around his.

"Good morning," he whispered as he kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Good morning John," she said worriedly but smiled at his touch regardless.

"Are we expecting any trouble today?" he joked as he gestured towards Liara's outfit. Her heart stopped momentarily as he got right into her worries. She turned around slowly in his arms and wrapped hers around his neck gently.

"John listen, we need to talk." At those four words Shepard's face paled slightly as his smile changed into a small frown.

"You're not leaving me are you?" he asked in only a half teasing voice. Liara stared at him in shock and surprise at his question and said immediately, "What? No! Nothing like that," he smiled, visibly relieved, as looked back into Liara's eyes with a curious look on his face now.

"So what's up then?" he asked simply. Liara closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answering. When she opened her eyes again she looked back up into John's eyes and struggled to think of a gentle way to speak her mind, unfortunately she could think of none.

"Listen John I'm going to be going away for a week or two, I have a promise to a friend I need to keep." John looked at her curiously for a few moments before asking who this friend was.

"It's Javik," she explained simply. She explained to Shepard that before he performed the Janigri Kai on his almost dead form he made Liara promise that she'd take his body to the Cronian Nebula to lie with his fallen team mates. Shepard stared at Liara for a few moments before nodding his head.

"Your right, it needs to be done." He said in a supporting tone.

"I'm glad you feel that way, however you-"

"Just let me go change and we'll head to the port together," he interrupted innocently. As he turned to head back into his bedroom to change Liara grabbed him at the wrist asking him to wait.

"What's wrong?" He asked, furrowing at the brow.

"Shepard you can't come with me, Maelon said it'd be weeks at best before you should be running around wearing armor or carrying guns. You need to stay here and rest."

"Liara I'm fine," Shepard assured her. "I've been doing as the doctor said for about two and a half months now, I've never felt better." He lied hoping to change Liara's mind, unfortunately for him she wasn't budging.

"Shepard you can't even walk out of the house without losing your breath, you can't hold a gun and a cane at the same time! Please John, stay home and rest. For me?" Liara looked up at him with a pouty, pleading look that Shepard found extremely hard to argue with.

"I don't like the thought of you going out there alone," Shepard declared defiantly.

"I won't be alone; Kaidan is waiting for me at the docks to take me to the planet. He'll be by my side every step of the way." Shepard relaxed slightly but not much and Liara could tell it was tearing him up inside, but he finally said in a defeated voice.

"Alright, I won't go with you to the Cronian Nebula."

"And you promise not to follow me using your Spectre authority?" She asked coyly. Shepard laughed as he assured her he wouldn't be following her.

"I want to see you off though," he insisted, putting his hands on her waist. She looked up at him and said in a suggestive voice, "I wouldn't have it any other way." They ended up arriving at the docks an hour early, Shepard having a goofy grin on his face while Liara's face held a content blush. As they had walked into the main port they immediately saw Kaidan in the middle of the area speaking to one of the officials. As they approached Kaidan smiled as he said his good bye with the official before approaching the couple. He exchanged salutes with Shepard before embracing his friend in a firm hug.

"Good to see you again Shepard," he said happily.

"Like wise Kaidan, how's the Normandy treating you?"

"She's flying like a dream, not the same without you aboard though." Shepard laughed in agreement. Kaidan than went to Liara and gave the Asari a friendly hug which she returned happily.

"Finally remembered me?" she teased playfully.

"It isn't the same without you either Liara," he assured with a smile. His face then changed to a serious tone as he asked in an almost whisper,

"Sooo, Shepard knows that…"

"I know that I'm not coming Kaidan, don't have to dance around it," Shepard assured casually.

"Right, just didn't want to assume anything. Wish you could come with us Shepard."

"So do I," he said as he looked over to Liara. The official Kaidan had been talking to returned reporting that the Normandy was ready for takeoff; Kaidan told the couple he'd wait for them to exchange good byes back at the ship. After sharing one final set of salutes with Shepard he returned to the Normandy. Shepard looked down at Liara and kissed her passionately and deeply. When they separated his arms were latched affectionately to her waist, as their faces parted hers was covered in a deep blush.

"Be safe," he urged desperately. "I don't want to imagine what I'd do if anything happened to you."

"I'll be fine John, I promise." The two held each other for a time as they whispered good byes to each other. As they slowly parted Liara looked back up at Shepard and said smiling, "Remember, no following me and no big adventures. You need to rest and stay home; can you do that for me?"

"I don't know, it _IS _a tall order," he said in a playful pout. Liara looked at him again and asked in a suggestive tone,

"Am I not worth it?"

"Oh you're definitely worth it," he said assuringly. "I just don't know what I'm going to do without you for a whole week."

"I'm sure you'll find something to do," she assured him. They kissed one final time quickly before Liara ran off towards the Normandy. As she walked in through the cargo bay she couldn't help but watch as the ship quickly rose from the ground and into the sky. She continued to stare down at Shepard until the hatch was shut and they were now exiting Thessia's atmosphere. She walked towards the elevator and hit the up button, where it immediately opened revealing Kaidan waiting for her.

"Everything go ok?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes, it took some convincing but he understood the importance of getting his rest." As Liara stepped into the elevator she caught Kaidan suppressing a small smile, when Liara inquired to what he was smiling about he said simply,

"Oh well I don't know about everyone else in the dock, but what I do know is that before you two saw me there was _definitely_ a look of content on your faces." It took Liara a moment to understand what he was saying but her face immediately went purple when she understood what he was saying.

"Goddess, were we really that obvious?" she asked.

"The only way it would have been more obvious was if Shepard had a neon sign necklace that said '_I just had sex',_" Liara moaned and Kaidan laughed as they made their way to the crew deck of the ship. When the elevator stopped Liara followed Kaidan out as he walked to the old XO's room. When they walked in Liara was surprised to see that, despite the removal of her terminals and screens, her room had remained mostly intact.

"I convinced my XO Reynolds to sleep with the crew this week. He thought that Admiral Shepard would be insulted if his bond mate was forced to sleep with the crew." Liara looked in the room now feeling guilty and said defensively,

"I don't feel right taking his room Kaidan, I have no problem-"

"Relax," Kaidan assured waving it off. "Reynolds insisted after he knew you were boarding, and besides he prefers the crew beds anyways for some reason."

"Well make sure he knows I'm grateful."

"Will do, but first I think we're going to need to lay some ground rules for the trip," he said a little guiltily.

"Ground rules?" Liara asked confused.

"Look I'm going to level with you," Kaidan assured her. "The truth is Joker still hasn't gotten over EDI's death and he still blames Shepard for killing her. I don't know if he blames you at all but for the sake of keeping the peace I'd appreciate it if you didn't go to the CIC until we've arrived in the Cronian Nebula." Liara thought over Kaidan's request, while she owed him for bringing her to the Cronian Nebula she did not like the thought of being restricted where she could go on the ship. However she agreed and Kaidan sighed in relief thanking her repeatedly. After they made it to the Relay and were traveling FTL to the Cronian Nebula Liara spent most of her time on the crew deck or in her room. She was glad that Dr. Chakwas was still the ship's doctor and spent a lot of time speaking to her, reminiscing about the old times on the ship. She inquired about Shepard's health and was glad to hear that he agreed to rest instead of coming with them.

"It must have been hard on him to let you go, he worries about you."

"I know, but I'm more than capable of taking care of myself," she said defensively.

"Oh Liara you don't have to tell me that. Men are just so macho and pig headed they like to think that women are defenseless without them." Her expression lightened as she said jokingly, "You may want to have a baby sitter check in on him to make sure he hasn't gone stir crazy." She laughed at her own joke until she noticed that Liara was now blushing in embarrassment.

"Well… I did convince my father to go to the house and check on him, I'm expecting her to call once we're out of FTL,"

"Oh Liara you didn't," Dr. Chakwas said laughing. "Let's hope he doesn't start to think you don't trust him," Liara looked at Karen with a coy look as she said simply and defensively,

"We've only been traveling for three and a half days, I'm sure he's at home bored out of his mind more than happy that someone is keeping him company right now." Karen only shook her head slightly as Joker's voice came on over the PA. He announced that they had just exited FTL travel and were now on their way towards the Cronian Nebula. Not twenty seconds after they were in normal travel speeds a call came from her Omni tool. She looked down and smiled showing it to Dr. Chakwas.

"See, that's her now." She answered the call and an image of Liara's father Aeythyta appeared on her Omni tool.

"Hey dad," she said simply.

"_Hey kiddo how'd your flight go? Everything hunky doory?"_

"Yes we just left FTL, how are things in the house?"

"_Everything's fine here, though I wish you had told me you took Shepard with you. I brought a bottle of bourbon with me and was planning to coerce some info out of him," _Liara frowned at her father's words as she took in what she said.

"Dad Shepard isn't with me, I left him on Thessia." She said sounding slightly worried _and _aggravated.

"_Well I've been here for an entire day and he hasn't come hope yet, want me to call up some of my commando girls and look for him?"_

"No, that won't be necessary dad thanks. I guess you can go home if he's not there, I'll talk to you soon." Liara ended the call and frowned as she looked up at Chakwas to see her smiling a knowing smile on her face.

"Well, I guess we can't be too surprised can we?" she asked trying to stifle the full extent of her grin. Liara shook her head angrily as she thought of Shepard ignoring her wishes for him to rest.

_Shepard better enjoy himself,_ she thought angrily to herself._ Because when I get home he'd better have a good excuse for leaving or he's going wish he'd slept with an angry Varren when I get back._

AN: UHOH, where the hell did Shepard go? Thanks for reading everyone; we're going to find out where Shepard went in the last chapter. So thank you for reading, please review and I will have a new chapter up ASAP. So until then.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10: That's what Friends are for

_2 days earlier_

Shepard sat out on the deck looking out at the water and was bored out of his mind. He had literally spent the previous day after Liara left in the same seat he'd been in, eventually falling asleep and waking up only moments ago. Liara's house was well out of the way of the major city which is how they liked it, it gave them their privacy but when he was alone in the house he hadn't realized how isolated they really were from people. Sighing Shepard limped back into the house towards the kitchen where he immediately went to the fridge. Opening it he found several Asari foods that Shepard had never tried before and never planned to. Fortunately there was some human lunch meat in the fridge: salami, ham, capricola, cheese and bacon. He grabbed all of these out of the fridge and grabbed some bread from the cabinet and prepared to make himself a sandwich. The moment he took his first bite he heard a series of heavy knocking noises coming from the front door. Shepard looked at the door confused and thought to himself, _who the hell could that be? Is it Shayera again?_

Shrugging he slowly limped to the door and opened the door, at seeing who was in the doorway his mouth dropped open revealing his partly chewed sandwich in his mouth.

"Is this some a human tradition? Or are you just trying to be rude?" A familiar snarky voice said from the door way. Swallowing his mouthful Shepard exclaimed in a dry voice,

"Garrus?! What the hell are you doing here?" he asked in an ecstatic voice embracing his Turian friend. It was one of the few times his friend wasn't wearing him armor and was wearing a blue Turian civilian outfit with his visor on, as always, and a handgun noticeable on Garrus's waist.

"Well I was in the system and thought I'd visit my favorite non Turian advocate,"

"And when Tali was busy you came here?" Shepard said jokingly as he led Garrus into the house. Garrus chuckled in response and said, "You know me so well Shepard, where's Liara at? Out on the beach?" Shepard then proceeded to tell Garrus about Liara going to the Cronian Nebula to drop off Javik's corpse on a planet there. Garrus shook his head as listened until Shepard finished speaking when he sad defensively.

"Well I can't imagine _why_ she'd leave you at home. Right after taking that rocket to the face on Omega I was up and running again in a few days, you've been on bed rest for how long? A year?"

"Two months," Shepard said accusingly as Garrus shook his head.

"You're losing your touch Shepard, but I might look past your laziness if you supply the alcohol."

"There isn't anything dextro in the house, wanna hit a bar?"

"Lead on Shepard." So Shepard led Garrus to a bar back in Armali where the two caught up with one another. Apparently Garrus had had a run in with Shayera asking him to become the Spectres unofficial leader as well; he turned it down flat out not even wanting to hear about the job offer.

"If they're going to ask a newly recruited Spectre to lead them you know there's something going on," Garrus reasoned as he took a hit from his dextro beer.

"Thinking there's something up?" Shepard asked doing the same to his drink. Garrus shook his head with an unsure look on his face.

"I'm not sure Shepard, I've never once heard of the Spectres following anyone but themselves. I always liked that part about them, no one above you but yourself. I'm not sure my instincts just steered me against it." Shepard nodded as he took another drink from his beer until Garrus slapped him on the back causing him to choke on his mouthful.

"So Shepard, Liara's out of the system and we've got a week to ourselves. I say we hit a couple of strip clubs and see where the night takes us." Shepard laughed as he wiped his face of the froth that he had nearly choked on when Garrus slapped him. "No thanks Garrus, not only do I not really like strip clubs but Liara hates them. Besides why would I need to go to one?"

"Oh come on Shepard, the man who defeats the Reapers and his balls are in his woman's purse, what Wrex or Vega would think I wonder."

"Get off it Garrus," Shepard said defensively. "Liara and I respect each other and none of us say what we can or can't do."

"And yet you're on Thessia while she's off on an intergalactic adventure. Come on Shepard let's do something fun, no strip clubs fine but let's do something!" Garrus begged. Shepard considered Garrus's proposal, it had been over two months since he'd moved to Thessia with Liara and he loved every moment of it. However it had been awhile since he did anything that would be considered strenuous.

"Alright Vakarian I'm in,"

"That's the Shepard I know and love," the Turian said happily. The two finished their beers as they walked out of the bar. After the two reached Garrus's rental car Shepard asked, "So what do you have in mind?"

"Two words Shepard: Road Trip.

"You know somewhere worth going to on Thessia?" Shepard asked.

"No not Thessia, but why don't we stop by Tuchanka and see how Wrex is doing? I bet he'd have something big and ugly for us to shoot at,"

"I don't know exactly what I'd be able to do on Tuchanka Garrus, I am a little worse for wear after all," Shepard stated as he lifted the cane up to show Garrus.

"Hmm fair enough, any requests?" Shepard thought for a moment, not able to think of anywhere he'd like to visit off the top of his head; when suddenly it hits him. He turns to Garrus and suggests casually,

"How about we go to Mindoir?" Garrus looked to Shepard with a surprised look on his face.

"You never want to talk about Mindoir," he said plainly. Shepard shrugged as he got into the passenger seat of the car.

"I know, but Liara's off world and there's something I'd like to do there. You in?" Garrus's mandibles twitched slightly before getting into the vehicle and starting it up.

"Let's hope there's a half decent bar there, from what I've heard Mindoir is a farming colony isn't it?"

"It was, I haven't heard anything from it since the Reapers attacked though." The two drove in silence back to Thessia's port, once there Garrus tossed the keys to his rental car to an Asari waiting at a desk as they walked toward the private space ship sector.

"How'd you get here anyways?" Shepard asked as they walk past a number of ships. Garrus lead Shepard to the back of the port as he told his story.

"I was on a case for the Primarch, word on former Dalatrass Linron came up. He wanted me to take the case before any Salarian Spectres got ahold of the job, can't tell if there working for Linron or not."

"Any luck?" Shepard asked. Garrus shook his head. "No but I ran into Grunt and his unit, apparently they got the same tip I did. He showed up a day after I arrived on the planet, was pretty pissed when I told him there was no one to shoot at." Shepard laughed at the thought of Grunt being on a ship for several days just to be turned around. Finally they reached a part of the port where there were several Turians in the area. Shepard eyed the ship they were around and was surprised to see the resemblance it had to the first Normandy.

"Caught that did you? A gift from the Primarch to help me out as a Spectre, a kick ass warship with a full Turian crew."

"How does she run?" Shepard asked as he examined the ship.

"Not as well as the SR2 but it can easily run circles around the SR1." As the two Spectres approached the Turians around the ship stopped what they were doing and saluted in Garrus's direction. Garrus approached one of the men and said in a commanding voice, "Sergeant Admiral John Shepard will be joining us for a short duration would you mind getting some levo based foods? We'd hate for him to go hungry now wouldn't we?"

"Yes sir!" The Sergeant said with a salute as he ran off towards an Asari selling food supplies. As they walked onto the ship Shepard couldn't help but notice how similar the ship looked to the original Normandy, the only difference was that everything was outfitted for Turians instead of Humans. They reached the CIC of the ship and approached a younger looking Turian with brown facial painting, at seeing Garrus approaching he saluted and said proudly,

"Spectre Vakarian."

"At ease Kyren. Kyren I'd like you to meet Admiral John Shepard, Shepard Kyren Salnack my XO."

"Pleased to meet you Kyren," Shepard said extending his hand.

"Pleasures all mine Admiral, not every day we have a Spectres on our ship," Kyren joked as he looked to Garrus with twitching mandibles. Garrus let a small smile cross his lips before he gave his orders.

"Kyren I want you to set course for Mindoir,"

"Mindoir, what for sir? Are orders were to return to Palaven for our next orders from the Primarch."

"Yes, well, Shepard and I have Spectre business to conduct there. It shouldn't put us off track by too much, no more than a week I'd say. The minute Pierik returns with some levo food I want you to ship off immediately, understand?"

"Of course," he said with a final salute before heading off to make final preparations.

"Seem to have a loyal crew here Garrus," Shepard complimented. Garrus's mandible twitched slightly in what Shepard assumed was embarrassment and said in his usual sarcastic tone, "Well the pilot may not be as good as Joker but the rest of the crew is perfect. Come on let me show you around," He went to showing Shepard around the ship, the design was almost exactly like the original Normandy except for its Turian retrofits and the size of it being significantly bigger.

"What do you call the ship?" Shepard asked as they took a seat in the mess area. Garrus frowned for a minute as he thought of the translation and responded, "You wouldn't understand it in Turian, but the English translation is 'cloaked dagger,' cuz they'll never see us coming,"

"Clever," Shepard complimented with a chuckle as they heard the launching procedures going off overhead on the PA.

"_Next destination: Human Colony of Mindoir located in the Attican Traverse. Approximate time until arrival, 17 hours."_

"Not bad for a totally Turian crew," Shepard teased as he saw several of the crew mates turn their heads at Shepard's comment. Garrus smiled viciously as he stood up on the table and announced loudly,

"DID YOU HEAR THAT?! Admiral Shepard said it's not bad for a _Turian_ crew; he's obviously never flown with Turians before has he?" The crew cheered Garrus on as he spoke to them. "I say we show Admiral Shepard that it's not just human pilots with brittle bones that have all the skill!" As the crew cheered again the PA went off again with a quick change to the flight time.

"_New Approximate time of arrival, 13.5 hours."_ Shepard laughed as the ship flew out of Thessia's atmosphere and towards the nearest relay.

"I'm impressed at how pumped your crew is," Shepard complimented.

"Thanks. All the stories I told these guys about back on the old girl puts a bur in their fringes, always enough to get them to push them a little farther." Shepard laughed as he and Garrus looked out the window of the 'Cloaked Dagger', as they flew a small feeling of worry went through Shepard's mind. While he was technically doing as Liara said and taking it easy he _was_ taking a little adventure. It wasn't a big one and he wasn't following her to the Cronian Nebula, but he couldn't help but feel uneasy. When he voiced his concerns to Garrus he waved them away effortlessly.

"Please Shepard, a small trip to Mindoir to do… Whatever it is you want to do is hardly considered an Adventure. Think of it as two old friends bonding after a few months separated from one another. Liara can't get mad at you for that can she?"

"Well if Liara won't Tali probably would," Garrus was about to say something when his mouth shit instantly thinking of the consequences he'd have to face if Tali found out about him stealing Shepard instead of visiting her.

"Maybe we don't tell the women about this, huh Shepard?" Garrus asked trying to mask his worry.

"Sure Garrus, how could they possibly find out?" Shepard replied sarcastically.

AN: Thanks for reading everyone, please review and I'll have the next chapter up ASAP. So until then.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 11: Shocking Discoveries in the Cronian Nebula

"I swear I'm going to kill him when I get back," Liara said angrily as she tapped violently at her Omni-tool. After Aethyta had called and told her Shepard wasn't home she had contacted Feron and asked him to send her any security video of him on Thessia or leaving the planet; it wasn't long until he had sent her a video of him and Garrus boarding a Turian vessel and leaving Thessia's atmosphere. They didn't tell the officials at the port where they were going so there was nothing in their records for her to find, that didn't help ease the anger that was building within her. Kaidan was sitting across from her trying to mend the situation but wasn't having much luck.

"It's not that big a deal if he left is it? I mean he's with Garrus, what's the worst that could happen?" Liara eyed Kaidan viciously as she deactivated her Omni-tool and held eye contact with him coolly.

"Kaidan how can you say he's_ with Garrus_ and_ what's the worst that can happen_ in the same sentence?"

"Well I don't really-" Kaidan was interrupted by Liara who was on a verbal tirade.

"After Shepard found Garrus on Omega they went drinking in after life, got kicked out for harassing strippers and got into a fight with a triad of Blood Pack Warriors."

"That was a favor for Aria," Kaidan pointed out but instantly regretted it after seeing Liara smile menacingly. "My mistake Kaidan, if _Aria_ asks them to do something reckless and life threatening it's no big deal. But when _I_ ask him to stay home to get rest he goes OFF PLANET!" Liara took a deep breath and put a hand to her brow trying to calm herself down. After a few moments Liara opened her eyes and Kaidan saw tears beginning to form in the corner of her eyes while her angry expression was replaced by a look of worry.

"I already lost him once, and I almost lost him a second time. I just want him to take it easy so he can recover." Kaidan reached out his hand and put it comfortingly on her shoulder. When she looked up at him he smiled at her, rewarding him with a small smile of his own.

"Shepard will be fine," Kaidan assured her. "Garrus may be reckless but he would know better than to drag him somewhere where he could get hurt. Worst case scenario they went to Tuchanka to go drinking with Wrex reminiscing about the old days." Liara gave off a weak laugh as she looked back at Kaidan with a smile.

"Until they find a Thresher Maw and try to kill it,"

"Wouldn't be the first time," Kaidan said with a smile. Suddenly, Joker's voice came from over the PA system addressing Kaidan directly.

"Captain we've got a planet on radar, its uncharted like the rest of this System. Do you want to approach?"

"Yes Joker, do that. Javik said that it would be the only planet in the system." The PA went off without another word and Kaidan sighed sadly. "He hasn't been the same since EDI died; he does his job well, as always, but he doesn't make jokes anymore or speak to anyone unless it's necessary."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" Liara asked.

"Yeah, so has Chakwas. Every time we bring it up he storms off muttering under his breath."

"He just needs time, losing a loved one is hard to cope with. It'll take a while." Kaidan nodded not willing to speak more about the topic of loss. He knew Liara was speaking from experience after Shepard had died on the SR1, they hadn't been in touch much after his funeral but he knew that she had barely been able to accept his death when he had returned. Liara spoke, snapping Kaidan out of his train of thought.

"I'm sorry what was that?" he asked. Liara stared at him quizzically before saying,

"I said, we better get suited up. We'll be in the planet's atmosphere soon." Kaidan nodded and the two went to the weapons locker in the cargo bay. They outfitted themselves in their usual armor and taking their usual weapons and only a few extra thermal clips. They didn't expect to meet any hostile forces on the long abandoned planet but they had learned from experience that walking into the unknown unprepared was a bad idea. They then found themselves in the Med Bay where Javik's body was being kept. Liara had kept Javik's body in cryogenic stasis being guarded by Feron until Liara was able to hold up her end of the bargain. She had had Feron deliver the body to Kaidan seconds before the Normandy had left for Thessia; no one knew how the stasis pod had appeared in the med bay so suddenly, even though everyone was expecting it to arrive. It was just another example of Feron's skill in stealth. They opened the pod and found Javik's limp form lying within, the smile on his face from the day he died still eminent.

"And so the Prothean race is finally extinct with his death," Liara said sadly as she looked at the corpse of her friend. While they rarely agreed on anything they had formed a respect for one another after losing to Cerberus on Thessia. Kaidan tried to lighten the situation to ease Liara's mind.

"Well after the beacon on Eden Prime and that Janigri Kai business, Shepard's probably more Prothean than human now." Liara laughed as she shut the stasis pod once again.

"We better get going, the sooner we put Javik to rest the better."

"I agree lets go," Kaidan said in agreement. As they headed to the pressurization chamber Kaidan put on his space helmet while Liara put on her breather. The atmosphere was toxic to Asari and more so to humans, if they were to go out without the necessary breathing equipment they wouldn't last the hour. With their masks on and the pressurization complete the hatch of the Normandy opened revealing a dead world all around them. The planet had been destroyed by the Reapers Eons ago and nothing living remained on the former Prothean world.

"Any idea what planet we're on?" Kaidan asked. As he spoke he activated the stasis pod's mobility function, lifting the pod off of the ground and allowing it to float several feet off the air making it easier to transport.

"Not a clue," Liara replied as they moved on with the pod in between them. "The only Prothean worlds that are known of are Eden Prime and Ilos, any others that have been found are unknown and unnamed."

"Well that's charming," Kaidan said sarcastically. The two continued moving for what seemed like several hours when Kaidan finally asked if Liara knew where they were going. Liara shook her head and had admitted that she didn't, but that they'd know the place to place Javik's corpse when they found it. As they continued to walk Kaidan began looking around the area worriedly, after several minutes of his frantic searching Liara finally asked him what was wrong.

"You ever get the feeling your being watched?" he asked as he continued to look around.

"Of course," Liara replied. "As an information broker there are always people keeping an eye on me, what they don't realize that I have eyes everywhere." She said that last part almost maniacally; Kaidan however was too paranoid to notice the tone however.

"Yeah that's great Shadow Broker, but what I meant was do you feel like were being watched _now_?" Liara stopped and furrowed her brow. He was right, for the past hour or so she had the strangest feeling that someone had been watching them, she hadn't wanted to say anything lest to sound paranoid but now that Kaidan acknowledged it she couldn't help but agree with him.

"Your right, I've felt like that for a while now. Do you think we should worry?" Kaidan laughed morbidly as he turned to look at Liara. "After all the shit we've been through I don't know anymore, I'm surprised I haven't been shooting at random dogs in the street lately." Liara was about to ask what he meant when they heard the flapping of what sounded like wings followed by a series of gun shots. Liara reflexively threw up a barrier while Kaidan began firing at where the shots were coming from. They didn't seem to hit anything but the flapping sound was growing louder; it wasn't until they were right on top of them that they saw who had fired the shots.

"COLLECTORS!" Kaidan shouted as he pointed to the oncoming foes. There were three of them landing in front of them with guns raised just as four more came flying towards them from another direction. Liara threw a singularity at the grounded Collectors, temporarily immobilizing them, while she gestured that they should head for cover. As soon as the four new Collectors landed they began firing at Liara's barrier, she was able to hold it but at the speed they were approaching she would give out before reaching cover. Kaidan was doing his best to fight off the mutated Protheans but as his shots connected with its target the Collectors barely faltered as they continued approaching the duo.

"We have to leave the pod behind, it's slowing us down!" Kaidan yelled over the gunfire. Liara cursed but saw that there was no other way to get out of the line of fire without dying first. She spotted a group of rocks that would settle as cover for the moment, she pointed it out to Kaidan and signaled for him to activate biotic detonations. She first threw a singularity in the way, catching several of the Collectors in its reach, while Kaidan ignited it with a warp sending the Collectors back staggering. Liara then dropped the barrier as they both ran behind the cover of the rocks. As soon as they were there they continued to open fire on the Collectors. Suddenly another trio of airborne Collectors arrived and sent groups of seeker swarms towards Kaidan and Liara. Kaidan threw up a barrier of his own to effortlessly hold off the swarms. The Collectors noticed this and began sending dark biotic orbs at the barrier; Kaidan strained from each of the impacts but maintained the barrier with few groans.

"Are you alright?" Liara asked as she replenished her gun with one of her few spare thermal clips. Kaidan nodded and wiped his nose, where he then noticed that he had acquired a nose bleed; a sure sign that he was over using his biotics.

"If they keep it up there going to blow a hole in my head," Kaidan cursed as he struggled to maintain his barrier. Liara threw up a barrier of her own and forced Kaidan to release his; suddenly a group of seeker swarms began surrounding the area, not them but the stasis pod with Javik in it. As soon as several of the swarms made contact with the pod the Collectors shot their heads in its direction, now fully ignoring Kaidan and Liara as they approached the pod.

"We can't let them take him!" Liara shouted. Not waiting for conformation from Kaidan she jumped from behind the rocks and threw a singularity at the Collectors lifting them off the ground. She then slid into place in front of the pod and erected a barrier around it. Kaidan shot up from behind his cover and aimed at the Collectors, readying to take a shot when a voice came from nowhere.

**Stop**, the voice said clearly in Liara's mind. She could see that Kaidan heard it to for he looked around frantically for the voice. The Collectors also responded by holstering their weapons and backing away from the barrier. Liara finally looked up and saw a Collector flying down towards her; it landed in front of her barrier but maintained a respectable distance away. Liara kept the barrier up not wanting to risk the Collectors swarming her; she raised her gun at the new Collector as the voice spoke into her head again.

**Peace Asari we mean you no harm.** It took Liara a few moments to realize but the Collector was _speaking_ to her.

"You have an odd way off showing it, firing at us out of nowhere," Liara retorted not lowering her gun. The Collector did not react but stood there looking at Liara through the barrier.

**We assumed you were a thrall of the Creators, we now see our mistake.**

"The Creators? You mean the Reapers?" Liara snapped as she tightened her hold on her gun.

**No,** the Collector said calmly undisturbed by Liara pointing a gun at it. **Not the Reapers, their Creators. The ones your people called the Leviathan.**

"You're hiding from the Leviathan?" Liara asked confused.

**Yes, in their battle against the Reapers they used their own powers of indoctrination to control us. Most died from the force of two powerful beings trying to own their minds, those that survived were free from the enthrallment of the Reapers.**

"So what, your cured now?" Kaidan called from behind, his assault rifle aimed on the Collectors in front of him.

**No. The Leviathan did not successfully indoctrinate us in the way it did to other species. The Leviathan awakened our long dormant memories of being Prothean; instead of becoming the Leviathan's thralls we regained are will.**

"So you are Prothean again?" Kaidan asked confused by the logic.

**No. Eons of modifications from the Reapers have changed our race completely; we are still Collectors but remember what it was to be Prothean. Many could not survive the transition and were immediately killed, we are what have survived.**

"Why is the Leviathan looking for you?" Liara asked lowering her gun ever so slightly.

**The Creators believed they had us in their enthrallment, they were wrong. They were enraged that they had no power over us and wished to destroy us. We may no longer be alive but we do not wish to be killed.** The other Collectors looked at one another and Liara could have sworn that several of them would be showing fear if they could.

"So you came here," Liara stated not asking a question.

**Yes, one of the last major battles between Prothean and Reapers was on this planet. We felt it was a suitable place for us to inhabit.** The Collector then pointed past Liara at the stasis pod behind her.** You have the body of a Prothean, a **_**real**_** Prothean.** Liara nodded as she lowered her barrier, more from exhaustion then trust however.

"I am honoring his last wish and bringing him here where he is to be put to rest." The Collectors looked at one another before turning back to Liara.

**We would like to see him.**

"Why?" Liara demanded. The response the Collector gave wasn't what Liara expected.

**We wish to know his journey.** Liara stared at the Collector for a few moments before dropping her weapon and holstering it. She looked over at Kaidan who was doing the same thing but was shrugging, unsure of what was going on. Liara then walked over to the stasis pod and opened it, allowing the Collector to approach. It wasn't just the one who came but all of them approached Javik's corpse and placed a hand on him. For several minutes the Collectors stood over the Prothean doing nothing but looking at the form, Kaidan came jogging up to Liara with a confused look on his face.

"Well this is a strange turn of events," he said casually.

"Indeed, who would have thought the Leviathan would give sentience back to the Collectors. I wonder how Javik would feel about that."

"If I had to guess, he'd be pissed that they weren't dead." Kaidan replied sadly. Liara nodded in agreement as the Collectors finally moved from their positions, the Collector who had been speaking approached Liara and Kaidan.

**Thank you Liara T'soni, we see the part you played in the final Protheans life and we thank you for it.**

"How do you know my name?" Liara asked worriedly.

**We maintained are abilities to learn through touch, while weak it showed up the last year of his life. His sacrifice will be honored among the last of his people, whatever that is worth to him.**

"So… what now?" Kaidan asked addressing the elephant in the room.

**You said that you wished to put him to rest? Leave him to us. We will insure that he receives the burial that he deserves as the Prothean who survived the end of the war.** Liara and Kaidan looked at one another hesitantly, unsure of what to do.

"You know what he wanted done to his corpse?" Liara asked.

**Yes, he wished to be buried amongst the indoctrinated troops he was forced to kill. We know the place and will take him there; you have done your part. We only wish that you not relay are existence to anyone, excluding Commander Shepard. We will trust the knowledge of our existence with no one else.** Not waiting for a reply the Collectors returned to Javik and gently removed his corpse from the pod. The Collector's wings then sprouted from their backs as they flew off with Javik in their arms. Liara and Kaidan watched the Collectors fly away until they were out of sight. Finally after a few minutes of silence Kaidan spoke.

"We can never get an easy job can we?" Liara laughed gently.

"No, it seems we can't."

AN: How'd that go? I wanted to put what _I_ think would have happened to the awakened collectors after the war, hopefully you all liked it. Please review, you know I live for those. I'll have the next chapter up ASAP, so until then.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 12: A Visit to Mindoir

True to his word Garrus's crew managed to get them to Mindoir in just over 13 hours, the Cloaked Dagger was an excellent ship and Shepard openly admitted that he was impressed. While aboard the ship Shepard and Garrus had managed to entertain themselves for a few hours by playing guards with several of the off duty engineers. They were better than Donnely and Daniels but not as good as Tali, making them good enough to nearly clean Shepard out. They also spent a few hours watching the sparring matches held in the training area. Shepard remembered Garrus telling him how it was a great way for the Turian soldiers to blow off steam, and he was able to make most of his money back betting on the fights. The last few hours of the ride Shepard spent sleeping in one of the crew beds, it was far too long for him and was obviously designed for Turians but he managed to get the needed rest from the day's excitement.

He was surprised at how tired he was, knowing that he had barely done anything strenuous and immediately remembered Liara's insistence that he needed to rest in order to recover. He sighed sadly and prayed that Liara was safe and out of harm's way; the last thing he wanted to hear was that the Normandy got shot down or they were captured while passing Terminus space. Regardless he had faith that she would be ok. When they reached Mindoir there was a slight problem with docking protocol, which Garrus easily sidestepped around by flashing his Spectre authority to the dock officials. Shepard couldn't help but laugh at seeing his friend flaunt his stuff.

"You like being able to do whatever you want don't you?" he teased knowing very well what the answer would be.

"Your damn right; no restrictions or red tape to hold me back, being a Spectre is like Archangel all over again. But this time I can do good off of Omega," As they exited the ship the Cloaked Dagger's crew immediately started prepping the ship for its next departure; with refueling and minor repairs they'd be able to leave tomorrow and hopefully make it back to Thessia before Liara ever learned he left. He didn't have much faith in the last point and suddenly had a few worst case scenarios play through his head.

"Hey Garrus?"

"Hmm?" the Turian asked distractedly as he signed out some docking paper work given to him by a human official.

"What if Liara sends several of her 'assets' to 'apprehend' us?" Garrus looked up from the paper work as he thought over the question before looking back at Shepard. "Most likely she sends Feron after us, being the only one of her 'assets' that wouldn't kill us, where he brings you back to Thessia where you get yelled at for about 15 minutes and then after you sweet talk her you coerce her into make-up sex." Shepard laughed as Garrus finished the paperwork and handed the clipboard back to the human official behind the desk. Suddenly another thought went through Shepard's head.

"Garrus?"

"Yeah Shepard?" Garrus asked as they walked out of the docking area and into the colony.

"What if she calls Tali?"

Without skipping a beat Garrus replies,

"Then there are going to be several Geth Prime here momentarily that will brutally beat us into the ground before bringing us back to Tali where you get sent to Liara to get yelled at and I get hit in the groin by a shotgun." Shepard stared at his friend in surprise at how quickly he had come up with a scenario and asked in a surprised tone, "How many times has she threatened you with _that?"_

"About 17 times, normally it's a warning for me to come back alive on one of my missions otherwise, well, you get the point." Shepard laughed at he looked at how ironic their lives had become.

"How is it that two Spectres are afraid of their girlfriends?" he asked, already knowing the answer. Garrus chuckled slightly before answering, "Well _your_ girlfriend is the greatest Intel broker of all time while _mine_ has thousands of thankful Geth at her beck and call that would blow up several systems if she'd ask them to." As their awkward chuckles ceased they looked at one another with slowly grim expressions forming on their faces at the realization they_ may_ have made a mistake.

"Any bright ideas in how to get us out of trouble?" Garrus asked.

"Only thing we can do now is finish what I wanted to do in the first place," Shepard declared as he began to limp off into the town with the aid of his cane. Garrus caught up to his handicapped friend and met his stride as he asked casually, "And exactly what exactly, dare I ask, _are _we doing on Mindoir? Last I checked it's still just a small farming colony, hell the Reapers avoided it until the end of the war." Shepard showed no expression as he spoke but Garrus could tell there was hurting emotionally as he spoke.

"A few years after the Batarians attacked I was alerted that my families more… precious effects were collected and put into storage. I'd like to collect them and give one of them to Liara."

"So this is all a 'grab some old family crap so my girlfriend's house isn't so awkward anymore' run?" Garrus joked trying to brighten the mood. Shepard smiled slightly and said, "Something like that," The two walked to _Mindoir Capital,_ the only major bank on the entire colony. As they progressed to where the storage units were Shepard walked directly to locker 206; after connecting his Omni-tool to the lock the large storage locker opened to reveal-

"It's empty," Garrus said bluntly.

"It can't be! I'm the only one with access to the unit," Shepard complained in shock. Limping over to one of the bank tellers he cut in front of the line of waiting patrons to the front. The teller was about to demand he move to the back of the line until she realized who he was.

"Admiral Shepard! I'm so sorry, had I known it was you I'd have-"

"Yes its fine, listen my security deposit box is empty. It contained some very important possessions of my family; would you be so kind as to tell me when it was last accessed?" Without waiting another moment the woman began typing frantically at her terminal until she sent something to Shepard's Omni-tool which caused it to glow in alert.

"While I can't tell who emptied it out I can tell that it was about three months ago, around when the Reapers first started landing on Mindoir,"

"Is there any way you can find out who emptied the locker? Security footage or something?" Shepard asked desperately. The woman typed at her terminal for a few moments before reaching into the drawer at her desk and handing it to Shepard. "Unfortunately the footage was wiped, but this card was found in the security box a few weeks ago." She handed the card to Shepard who took it eagerly as he looked down at the small piece of paper. He felt his body go numb and he broke out into a cold sweat. Garrus saw his friend's sudden change in character and placed his hand on his shoulder supporting his friend.

"Everything ok Shepard?" Garrus asked. Shepard looked at Garrus with a worried look on his face and said hesitantly, "This is my home address Garrus,"

"What, back on Thessia? You think Liara got here before us?" Shepard shook his head worriedly. "No it's not that address, it's _my _address. Here, on Mindoir."

"Seriously? That's kind of messed up." Garrus turned to the woman at the terminal and asked bluntly, "If the deposit box was stolen from and you had a possible location why didn't you send some cops out there."

"We did," the bank teller answered defensively. "We called the local authorities and they went out there to investigate. They returned saying that no one was out there." Garrus's mandibles twitched uneasily as he escorted Shepard out of the bank once they were outside Garrus looked down at Shepard with a serious look on his face.

"Shepard look, whatever's going through your mind right now must be confusing but I want you to know I'm here to support you."

"I want to go to my house," Shepard said abruptly. Garrus didn't seem surprised by his request but just looked out in front of them.

"I thought you would. Just promise me that if shots are fired you stay out of it, all jokes aside I'm pretty sure Liara would kill me herself if I let anything happen to you." Shepard smiled as he patted his friend on the shoulder. "Thanks Garrus," he said in an appreciative tone. The two immediately rented a sky car and proceeded out onto the road toward Shepard's child hood home.

"Where is your house exactly Shepard?" Garrus asked after twenty minutes of silent driving.

"It's out in the ass middle of nowhere, my dad always liked the privacy and the isolation gave us more land."

"You know the entire time I've known you Shepard you've never talked about Mindoir." Shepard didn't answer. Garrus was right; Shepard rarely ever spoke about that horrible day on Mindoir to anyone. He hadn't even told Liara about that day, it brought up to many memories that Shepard didn't want to relive. Losing his family, his friends, it was too much for him then and it was still painful to talk about now.

"Shepard?" Garrus asked worriedly due to his refusal to answer.

"I heard you," Shepard replied gruffly. "I just… don't like talking about it; old wounds you know?"

"Yeah I hear you Shepard," Garrus replied dropping the subject. As they continued to drive Shepard could tell that Garrus had more questions and was grateful that he didn't dig into his past. Garrus was one of Shepard's closest friends, and if he'd asked enough Shepard knew that he'd eventually crack and tell him everything. He didn't want to do that, not yet anyways; turning to Garrus he said in a quiet, raspy tone, "Once were back on Thessia I'll tell you about it, I don't want to have to tell the story more than once and I want Liara to hear it."

"Don't worry about it Shepard," Garrus assured him. "Just tell me how we can get to your house so we can pick up your crap and leave," he said in a teasing tone. Shepard laughed slightly as he gave him the directions to the house. Aside from giving Garrus directions on which streets to turn on the two drive in silence for several hours, the whole time Shepard is thinking about what he'd find at his old home. He hadn't returned to Mindoir since the attack; he was worried that he'd find things the way they were when he ran: filled with corpses and blood everywhere. Finally the two make it to a small farm house surrounded by hundreds of acreage of land, at seeing all of it Garrus couldn't help but whistle.

"Damn Shepard, tell me you didn't work these fields yourself," he said in amazement as they drove past the fields. Shepard laughed slightly, thinking back on the time he and his dad had spent working the fields. "Not all of it, but my dad made me responsible for 10 acres. If they weren't tended to every day I wouldn't get my allowance." Garrus shook his head as he parked the car several yards away from the house, on the off chance there _were _people in the house he didn't want to give away their arrival. They got out of the car and before Shepard moved two steps Garrus was beside him presenting an M-6 Carnifex hand cannon to him.

"Just in case, but remember if shots are fired leave it to me." Shepard nodded as he examined the gun with a smile. "Did you raid my weapons locker at home?" he asked good humoredly, the Carnifex was Shepard's preferred pistol of choice due to its quick reload and heavy shots, it was nearly as painful as getting hit with a shotgun but with better accuracy. Garrus just smiled as he cocked his own weapon.

"You were taking too long in the can before we left, now come on let's go!" The two took their time approaching the house, not wanting to alert any potential enemies to their arrival. As they silently made it to the porch of the house they heard something from inside; it was a scratchy sound that seemed to be saying something in a melodic way, it was completely random for Garrus but Shepard recognized who it was almost instantly.

"Is someone being tortured in their?" Garrus asked as he continued listening to the sound. Shepard just shook his head with a confused look on his face. "No it's… Sinatra?" Garrus shot him a quizzical look but Shepard ignored it as he reached for the doorknob. It opened silently and the two entered the small house silently. They followed the sound to what Shepard knew was the living room and as they progressed the music was getting louder.

_Those fingers in my hair, that sly come hither stare_

_It strips my conscious bare_

_Its witchcraft._

_And I've got no defense for it,_

_The heat is too intense for it,_

_What good would common sense for it do?_

The music continued as they made their way down the hall into the living room. In the room they found what appeared to be a Salarian sitting in what Shepard recognized as his father's old easy chair with a book in his hands, a cup of tea on the table nearby and, to Shepard's great relief, a record player to the Salarian's left opposite of the table. Garrus was about to jump the corner with his gun raised when Shepard walked quietly out from the cover of the hallway.

"Auron?" he asked incredulously. The Salarian flinched, quickly turned off the record player shot from his seat and aimed an old looking hand gun at Shepard, at seeing who he was aiming at the Salarian immediately lowered his weapon and said in an old, high pitched voice,

"Johnny?" after a split second both dropped their guns (along with Shepard's cane) and embraced one another. Garrus stared in confusion at the display shown before him and holstered his weapon as he watched the events unfold.

"I thought you were dead," Shepard said near tears as he separated from the old Salarian. He was wearing a gray jumpsuit, similar to the attire most civilian Salarians wore, along with a matching gray jacket. He also wore a large pair of round glasses that seemed to sit atop of his head in order to remain attached to his head. (Just to give an example of his appearance he has the same color complexion as Mordin.)

"I'm sorry, I wanted to contact you but there never seemed to be an appropriate time." The Salarian smiled incredulously as he lifted his hand and brushed it on Shepard's face, almost disbelieving that he was there. "Look how much you've grown."

"Ok, forgive me for interrupting but this is just getting too weird," Garrus interrupted drawing attention away from the reunion and onto the Turian. Shepard wrapped one of his arms around the Salarian and walked him over to Garrus.

"Garrus this is Auron, he was my tutor back when I was a kid working on the farm. Auron this is my friend and fellow Spectre Garrus Vakarian." Auron smiled and held out his hand to Garrus, which he took hesitantly before shaking it.

"Garrus pleasure to meet you," Auron said cheerily.

"Likewise Auron," Garrus said neutrally. It wasn't long until the three of them were all sitting around the fire, Auron in the easy chair and Garrus and Shepard on the couch.

"So it was you who emptied the deposit box?" Shepard asked. Auron nodded as he took a sip from his tea. "Yes. Once the Reapers attacked I decided they'd be safer here with me, and don't worry everything is fine; although some of the records are damaged."

"Records?" Garrus asked in confusion. Auron placed his cup of tea down and grabbed the record that had been playing on the record player and showed it to Garrus.

"A human device invented sometime in the 19th century," Auron explained.

"Wait, you mean that scratchy tortured sounding voice we heard coming in?" Garrus asked. "That sounded terrible."

"It's classic," Shepard argued as he looked back at Auron. "I still can't believe you stayed here all this time. You never left Mindoir?"

"I did actually, for a few years. The STG was catching up to me so I had to run for a few years, lay low. I've only been here for about six months or so."

"STG is after you?" Garrus asked suspiciously. Auron looked over to Shepard who nodded as the Salarian looked back over to Garrus. "Back in my youth I was a member of STG myself, barely more than a recruit and I was put into the upliftment department; deciding what species could be uplifted for Salarian use. Like what we did for the Krogan during the Rachni war. Unfortunately I was against the entire department and fought that we should leave the underdeveloped species to grow on their own without outside involvement. I was eventually moved to several other department but could never see the appeal, the proud quality of our work that the others did; so I went AWOL."

"Well going AWOL is bad no matter where you're from, but that's not really worth running from your government is it?" Auron reached for his tea and brought it to his lips; before taking a sip he said in a quick tone, "There was also the part about me _borrowing_ around 30 million credits from my clan's Dalatrass before I left, they never seemed to let that go." As Auron drank from his tea Garrus's mandibles twitched at his words when a look of clarity hit his face.

"Wait a minute; I remember that case back from my days at C-Sec. Rogue Salarian steals 30 million creds and shoots two Salarian officers trying to escape, that was you?"

"Yes, but I assure you no one was shot. I left on my day off, made my… withdrawal and was on my way; that was about 18 years ago." Garrus stared at the Salarian for a moment before breaking out into laughter. After a few minutes Garrus wipes his eyes and looks over to Shepard with an amused look on his face.

"Even when you're a regular kid on a farming planet you're still causing trouble. Did you know about it, while he was tutoring you?" Shepard shook his head.

"I knew he was former STG but that was it, my dad seemed to know what he did though," Auron brushed that off as he put his cup down. "I told your father I punched one of my commanding officers and was given a dishonorable discharge. He had no clue what I was really in trouble for," Auron clarified. Shepard laughed as he looked over at Auron.

"30 million credits?" he asked in bewilderment. Auron laughed nodding.

"What can I say, my family was one of the better off clans. They were up there with the Linron clan and the Sada clan."

"What'd you do with all that money?" Garrus asked.

"Well that depends," Auron said looking serious all of a sudden. "Am I to be arrested after I confess?" Garrus and Shepard shook their heads at the same time but it was Garrus that Auron was eyeing.

"Don't worry about it, I'm off duty and unwilling to rat out a friend of a friend." He assured gesturing to Shepard. Pleased with the answer Auron explained what he did with the money.

"The first thing I did was to bribe an old friend of mine to give me a new identity, throw my pursuers off my scent so to speak. I invested heavily in several corporations on Noveria and Illium, which paid off I'm happy to say, and then I hid on Mindoir where I became Johnny's tutor. The last place they'd look for me would have been a human colony."

"Why's that?" Shepard asked.

"My clan was racist, thought the lesser races: Krogan, Humans, Quarians; thought they didn't deserve to live. Especially the Krogan, I never agreed with their views but never said anything about it so everyone assumed I'd have been a racist as well."

"Clever," Garrus complimented. Auron nodded as he turned his attention over to Shepard once again.

"Now I've heard what the media and my few sources have had to say, but I want to hear the truth. Tell me the whole story about how all of this happened." So for the next several hours Shepard told Auron about his first mission to Eden Prime for his candidacy into the Specters, being assigned to chase after Saren, defeating Soverign, dying, being revived, fighting the Collectors and his recent battle against the Reapers. Whenever he forgot something Garrus brought the topic up as he continued his story. When he finally brought up Liara he showed her a picture of the two of them together on his Omni-tool, they had it taken when they officially moved into their home on Thessia after the war.

"She's a beauty Johnny, I'll give you that." Auron complimented as he sat back into his seat with a groan. "I have to say I always preferred Asari over my own kind, always had a thing for the color blue I guess."

"I can relate," Shepard agreed as he sank back into his seat." He looked towards Auron and asked, "So about the items in the deposit box," Auron hopped up from his seat and ran down the hall. He returned moments later with several large boxes and placed them gently on the floor.

"Yes, the last effects of the Shepard family: one Record player (he pointed to the old machine on the counter beside his chair) 39 working records, 23 damaged records, one family photo album and finally," Auron reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box and handed it to Shepard. He opened it and saw what it was he was hoping to find in the storage box.

"One azurian emerald ring; had to pry that out of the hands of a dying Batarian." Shepard stared at the ring; it had a solid gold band and a beautiful emerald in the center of the ring. On the emerald were traces of sapphire mixed into the ring that gave the ring a bluish hue to give it a more aqua marine color. Shepard shut the box and looked up at Auron with a grateful smile on his face.

"Thank you," he said sincerely. Auron nodded as he sat back down.

"Had I known where you were I'd have had them sent to you, otherwise you would have gotten them after I died. Made sure it said in my will that they'd be sent to you."

"I wouldn't have gotten them for another 20 years then," Shepard insisted. Auron shook his head and removed the bulky glasses from his head.

"I'm your age Shepard, that's old for a Salarian. Most Salarians don't live to 40; at 32 I'm pushing the borders."

"So what will you do then?" Shepard asked concern in his voice. Auron shrugged and said simply,

"I don't know, with your approval I'll probably stay here for a while longer. Maybe go to Illium and cash in some of my investment profits."

"I have a better idea," Shepard said gaining the interest of Auron and Garrus. "Come with me, stay with me and Liara on Thessia."

"Shepard, you don't want an old Salarian living with you. It's like having your grandmother visit, your father just waited for her to leave; and besides, you're a young couple who will want your privacy. I couldn't impose on the two of you."

"You wouldn't be," Shepard insisted. "Our house is more than big enough to accommodate you and I know Liara would love you once she got to know you. Please? It'd mean the world to me." Auron thought about it for a few moments and eventually sighed in defeat.

"I have one request Johnny and it's nonnegotiable,"

"Name it," Auron pointed to a piano in the background and Shepard was surprised that he hadn't seen it before. "We bring the piano with us,"

"Deal," Shepard said with a grin.

AN: Hey everyone thanks for reading, please review and tell me what you thought of the chapter. I'll have the next chapter posted ASAP, so until then.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 13: A Piano on the Roof?

"I can't believe him; he doesn't even have the decency to beat me home." Liara said angrily as she paced in the living room of her home. Her father, Aethyta, was on the couch listening to her with several empty bottles of hard liquor on the table in front of her with a bottle of Thessian wine in her hand. She had stayed at her daughter's home in the event Shepard had returned but after a week there had still been no sight of him. When Liara had returned from her trip she had expected to find Shepard there waiting for her with an excuse as to why he had left, but when she found the house empty except for her father she immediately grew worried along with more outbursts of anger.

"I told him he needed to rest and how does he respond? He goes off world doing goddess knows what!" Her father took a pull from her wine, downing half of it in the process, before looking to her daughter with a knowing look.

"That's just how men are kiddo, you tell em one thing and they immediately do the opposite. For all we know he's out with some hooker on Omega."

"Dad you're not helping!" Liara complained as she continued to pace worriedly. She knew Shepard would never cheat on her; they had been through too much together. Even when he believed that she had gone after the previous Shadow Broker to save Feron out of love he did everything in his power to help her. It wasn't until after they defeated the former Shadow Broker that Liara and Shepard had time to talk about their relationship that it was set in stone that he wanted her, and in all honesty she couldn't see herself with anyone other than John. She stopped pacing for a moment as worrying thoughts went through her mind. What if he'd been kidnapped? What if he'd been killed?! Her anger caught up to her again as she thought, _than at least four of my contacts would have alerted Feron or me and we'd have sent commandos to protect him._ She began pacing again angrily as she continued ranting to Aethyta.

"All I know is that if he isn't dead he definitely will be when he gets home! If he doesn't have a good explanation for leaving then I'll… I'll,"

"You'll what?" Aethyta asked as she placed a now empty bottle of Thessian wine on the table next to the other empty bottles of liquor (most of it John's).

"I don't know what I'll do, but all I know is that I'll teach him a lesson he'll never forget,"

"Well you might want to think of that punishment now," Aethyta suggested.

"Why's that?" Liara asked as she stopped pacing to look at her dad. She suddenly heard the sound of Shepard talking while the lock was being opened to the house.

"Cuz he's walking in the door now," she said pointedly. Liara's biotics immediately flared out of anger and when the door opened she grabbed the first form that came through the door and slammed him into the wall.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Liara yelled angrily.

_15 minutes earlier: on the road to Shepard's house_

"Now that I think of it Auron I don't know if we can fit the piano into the house," Shepard said curiously. He, Auron and Garrus were driving back to Shepard's home followed by another sky car following them filled with eight Turians from Garrus's ship, Garrus had picked them to help bring Auron's piano into the house. The rest of his possessions were in several boxes in the trunk of their sky car. Auron just laughed as he looked back at the Grand Piano being pulled in a trailer behind the second sky car.

"I'm sure we'll find a way to bring it in," Auron said positively. "Worst case scenario we tear down a wall."

"Let's _not_ break down any walls though," Shepard said sheepishly. "Liara will already be angry for me leaving in the first place. I still don't know how she's going to take my leaving."

"Don't worry Shepard, all you have to do is show her the ring and she'll be putty in your hand," Garrus assured him. "And besides, what's the worst she could do?"

"Do we really want to think about that?" Shepard asked. Garrus's smile disappeared as his mandibles began twitching nervously.

"What does Liara do that makes you to so afraid of her?" Auron asked. Shepard looked at Garrus before answering; he had chosen not to tell Auron that Liara was the Shadow Broker out of respect for her. While he trusted Auron with his life it wasn't his secret to tell and if Liara wanted him to know she'd tell him herself, so he told him _most_ of the truth.

"She's a very successful information broker, if it wasn't for her contacts I'd have been lost fighting the Reapers." Shepard said honestly. Auron frowned slightly and gave Shepard a warning look.

"You have to be careful with brokers Johnny; they're always selling information to others. Wouldn't want her selling your secrets to the Shadow Broker now would we?" Shepard was barely able to keep a straight face while Garrus laughed behind his mandibles unable to block out most of the laughter. He covered it up poorly by coughing loudly as he stopped the car in front of Shepard's house. As they got out of the car the other sky car pulled up behind them and came to a halt. The Turians then began exiting the sky car and were getting ready to unload the piano. Auron turned to Shepard and said,

"You two go on a head, I'll help the others get the piano into the house.

"You need any help?" Shepard offered. Auron shook his head with a smile.

"No thanks Johnny, if eight Turians can't do it then what can a crippled human do?" Auron walked towards the piano while Shepard and a chuckling Garrus walked towards the front door.

"It's not funny," Shepard insisted.

"Oh it definitely is _Johnny,_" Garrus said drawing out Auron's nickname for Shepard.

"He's the only person who's ever called me that Garrus and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Fine fine, whatever you say… Johnny," Shepard sighed and Garrus laughed as they approached the door. Once Shepard unlocked the door his hand hesitated before grabbing the door knob. Garrus saw his hesitation and asked him what was wrong.

"I feel like there's a merc squad on the other side of this door waiting to attack us," Garrus scoffed as he pushed Shepard aside and placed his hand on the door knob. "Shepard if you're going to live your life in complete fear that Liara _might_ have you killed; you'll be paranoid until the day one of you die." As he opened the door Garrus immediately began to glow blue before being slammed into the wall.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Liara yelled angrily. Garrus was shaken up from the attack and looked down at Shepard who was standing wide eyed just over the door's threshold.

"If Tali tries to but me in the groin with her shotgun, your taking that one for me," Garrus groaned. Seeing that she had attacked the wrong person she dropped Garrus from the wall and without saying a word approached Shepard with her biotics still flaring angrily.

"You better have a good reason for leaving Thessia Shepard because I'm this close to-" She was immediately interrupted by Shepard grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling the surprised Asari into a deep, passionate kiss. She remained stiff for several seconds before wrapping her arms around Shepard's head and surrendering to his kiss. Her biotics quickly dissipated as they kissed for several more moments before Shepard pulled away slowly from his blushing bond mate.

"I missed you," he said simply. Liara looked like she wanted to say several things at Shepard angrily, and scold him for betraying her trust by leaving Thessia when she specifically asked him to take it easy and rest, but ended up saying in a low, passionate voice.

"I was worried when I found out you weren't home."

"I know and I'm sorry," Shepard said honestly. "But Garrus came by and he gave me the idea to do something that I've been meaning to do for a while now."

"So it's your fault then," Liara said angrily at Garrus. Garrus was struggling on his knees and hands and looked at Liara with daggers in his eyes saying, "Lady whatever I did wasn't worth you throwing me into a wall."

"No but it sure was funny as hell," Aethyta said chuckling to herself. Shepard looked past Liara and smiled politely to her father.

"Hello Matriarch Aethyta, nice to see you again."

"Shepard. Glad to see your moving, although you might not be in a minute." Before Shepard could ask what she meant Liara gained his attention by putting her hands on his shoulders and asking,

"Where were you?"

"I was on Mindoir,"

"Mindoir, why were you on Mindoir?" Liara asked. In all the years that she and Shepard had been together he had gone to great lengths to avoid the topic of his home, Liara had always respected his privacy and did her best to avoid those memories of his life when they melded and to resist the urge to dig to far back into his past. Shepard looked at Liara with a small smile and gave her a quick kiss before wrapping one of his arms around her.

"I'll explain everything, but first I want you to meet someone," As Shepard was about to lead Liara out the door they were both surprised to see the back end of a piano being slammed into the door way.

"Buddy I'm telling you it ain't gonna fit through the door!" One of the Turians yelled.

"Come on gentlemen anything's possible with a positive attitude. Now put your backs into it and PUSH!" Shepard and Liara went to the window and opened it, when they leaned out they saw the eight Turians trying to force the piano threw the door way while Auron sat on _top _of the piano trying to motivate them to get the piano into the house.

"Why don't you get OFF the piano and help us?" a Turian with brown facial markings yelled at Auron.

"What? A man my age trying to lift a 900 lb. piano? Where's the pride in that? Come on boys push!"

"Auron," Shepard called from the window. "I don't think it's going to fit in through the front door." Auron looked behind himself at the small doorway as if just noticing that there was no way his piano would fit through the door.

"Your right Johnny, alright boys let's try to get it in through the back. Try pushing it through a window if the door ways are too small!" As the Turians whined and began carrying the piano to the back Auron hopped off and walked into the house towards John and Liara. Shepard, who still had his arm wrapped around Liara, introduced the two to one another.

"Liara this is an old friend of mine from Mindoir, Auron this is my bond mate Liara T'soni." As Liara raised her hand for Auron the old Salarian took her hand and kissed the back of it gently.

"Ms. It is an honor to meet the woman who has captured young Johnny's heart. Auron Bournemouth at your service," Liara blushed slightly at Auron's words and said politely, "and I'm pleased to meet a friend of John's, he's never introduced me to one of his friends from Mindoir before."

"That's because I didn't know he was still alive," Shepard admitted.

"What do you mean?" Liara asked. Shepard gestured to the couch as everybody sat down; Garrus had managed to pick himself up off the ground and slumped into the seat next to Aethyta who stood up with a stretch.

"Well it looks like no one's going to die here so I think I'll hit the road. I'll see you later kiddo, Shepard." As she left Liara's attention was averted back to Shepard who was looking a little uneasy.

"Liara I've decided that I'm going to tell you about what happened on Mindoir all those years ago, I know you've been curious and I'm grateful that you haven't pried into my past. It's not something I like to talk about."

"Of course Shepard, but if this is difficult for you you don't have to tell me," Liara assured. Shepard smiled truly as he kissed the back of Liara's hand and held it in his own. "I know, but you have a right to know. Auron?" The old Salarian nodded and reached into his coat pulling out an old, medium sized book and handed it to Shepard. Shepard opened the front page to show a family portrait of four people.

"This was me and my family about 16 years ago," Shepard told her. He pointed to each person in the picture and explained who they were. "This was my father Jack Shepard, my mother Mary Shepard, and my sister, Jaclyn Shepard."

"Where are you Auron?" Liara asked not seeing the Salarian in the picture.

"I'm the one who took the picture," he explained. "I wasn't a part of the family so I didn't want to intrude on the photo."

"You were like family to me though Auron," Shepard said causing the Salarian to smile. As the two spoke Liara examined the family portrait. Her eyes first went to the young Shepard, he looked similar to the way he did now, his muscles were toned but not as developed as they were now and instead of the buzz cut she knew him to always have he had curly hair that went down past his ears. His father was a tall looking man who had some of Shepard's looks but not nearly as handsome, he was a well-toned man but had brown eyes and seemed to have a slight scowl beneath his smile. His mom and sister looked exactly alike only with Mary being obviously older. Jaclyn was a pretty girl with long flowing brown hair that went down her back and shining blue eyes like John did, she had to admit the Jaclyn was a very attractive young woman. When she looked back up Auron had disappeared and Shepard was laughing, she turned on the couch to see the Salarian in the back of the house trying to instruct the Turians to bring the piano in through the back window which was far too small for the piano to fit through.

"Buddy look for the last time there's no way we can get this piano into the house!" One of the Turians yelled angrily.

"Nonsense!" Auron replied stubbornly. "Just put your backs into it! Now PUSH!" Shepard shook his head chuckling slightly at the sight while Garrus and Liara brought him back to reality.

"Tell us about your family Shepard, what were they like?" Garrus asked. Shepard's mood fell slightly as he looked back at the family portrait in the photo album.

"Well we were a farming family, everyone on Mindoir was back then, and we had the most land on the whole colony so we were expected to have the biggest harvest every year. Which we did; my sister Jaclyn had just graduated from college and was planning to be a professor at one of the colleges on the Citadel. My family was very proud of her, and so was I, but my parents never gave me any time to congratulate her and wouldn't let me spend too much time with her. They said I'd be distracting her from her studies or something."

"Why would they do that?" Liara asked. Shepard looked away sadly and said bluntly, "Because my parents never wanted me; they only wanted one child and after Jaclyn they thought they were done having kids. When I was born they were more disappointed than happy, the only reason they kept me was because they were against abortion and there weren't any adoption agencies on Mindoir at the time."

"What's an abortion?" Liara asked confused.

"It's when a mother kills an unborn child in the early stages of her pregnancy; don't Asari have anything similar like that?"

"No!" Liara said angrily. "Asari would never do that to one of their own, we only have children when we want them. Not like the wildness you humans put up with."

"Turians don't do that either," Garrus brought up. "Each child is important and raised to fight for their homes at an early age."

"Well humans aren't like that," Shepard said sadly. "Any way it's not the point; the point is for most of my life my parents made it obvious that I was a mistake and that I wasn't as important to them as Jaclyn was. Which is strange because Jaclyn was nothing but nice to me, she always went out of her way to make me happy or to have felt loved." Shepard shook his head sadly as he looked away from Liara.

"She was the only one I actually mourned for after the Batarians came, her and Auron anyway," Shepard admitted. They sat there in silence for a few minutes with only the sound of angry Turians pushing on the piano through a to small space trying to get it into the house. Finally Liara squeezed Shepard's hand assuring to gain his attention.

"Are you ok? You don't have to continue," she insisted.

"No it's ok," he assured her. "And besides, I don't want there to be any secrets between us. You have a right to know." Liara nodded gratefully as Garrus spoke up gently asking, "So what happened Shepard, on Mindoir?" Shepard sighed as he thought of that painful day sixteen years ago.

"We were celebrating that day; my sister had just gotten a job as a professor on the Citadel,"

_16 years ago: Shepard's home on Mindoir_

"_We are so proud of you honey," Mary said happily as she hugged her daughter. Jaclyn hugged her mother in thanks with her father Jack smiling proudly at his only daughter from across the table. She was moving on from the small farming colony she was raised on and moving on in her life to see the world._

"_Do you really have to leave tomorrow though? You just got home last week," Mary asked regretfully. Jaclyn laughed as she shook her head slightly. _

"_Mom I told you, they need me at the college to show me around the school and to tell me what I'll be teaching; apparently I'm to be the head professor in human history."_

"_That's right dear; she knows what she's doing. She's got a good head on her shoulders just like her father," Jack said happily. John walked into the kitchen, covered in dirt and hay, as he approached his father standing several feet away from him._

"_Father, I finished plowing the fields and replacing the horses hay is there anything else you need me to do?" Jack seemed ready to give John another list of chores to go through when Jaclyn spoke up._

"_Yes, your sister wants you to stay here with her before she goes away to the Citadel." John looked up at his father, waiting for him to decline. When he doesn't he runs over to his sister and embraces her as she smiled down at him. When they separated she held him at arm's length and gave him a teasing scowl._

"_Now you have to promise to call me every night you understand?" Jaclyn demanded._

"_You bet," John promised. Suddenly the door burst open revealing Auron, covered in blood and a pistol in his hand as he was breathing heavily._

"_Auron, what's the meaning of this?" Jack demanded stepping in between his family and the armed Salarian. Auron shook his head as he holstered his side arm. _

"_Batarians, they've landed on the colony and are making their way here. I bought us some time but we have to go, they'll be here at any minute." Jaclyn's face paled as Mary screamed out in fear. Jack grabbed John by the arm and dragged him through the kitchen; he turned to Mary and Jaclyn and yelled to them, "Quick, grab your things and get to the car. We need to get out of here." They didn't wait to listen to Mary's screams of fear, Jack lead John into his room where he went straight to the gun cabinet and pulled out two hunting rifles. He gave one of them to John and showed him how to reload and fire it. _

"_Dad what are we-"_

"_Not now John," Jack snapped as he handed him more loose ammo. "We need to keep your mother and sister safe. If you see a Batarian you shoot it, understand?"_

"_But dad I don't want to kill anyone," Shepard whined. Jack slapped John in the face hard bringing him to the ground. "You will NOT disrespect me by disobeying me, you will shoot anything with four eyes that tries to hurt your mother or sister; if anything happens to them I'll tan you myself understand?" He didn't have time to reply, at that moment an explosion came from the front of the house followed by female screams. Jack ran out of the bedroom with John close behind him, when they made it to the kitchen they saw five Batarians in the room, two of them were restraining Jaclyn while two of them had brought Mary to the ground while the fifth one was pointing a gun to her head. Before anyone had time to react the Batarian blew a hole in her head the size of a quarter. She fell to the ground dead as the Batarians turned on Jaclyn. Jack reacted by firing at the Batarians with his rifle, he hit two of them in the chest and one in the shoulder. Unfortunately there armor took most of the damage and the shots did little to harm them. The Batarians turned to Jack angrily and shot the man in the legs bringing him to the ground. One of them pulled out an inferno grenade and primed it forcing it into Jack's mouth. John hid behind the wall as the explosion went off completely charring Jacks face and ripping his skull apart._

_John froze as he heard his sister scream in fear and loss, suddenly after one final shot the crying stopped. John remained hidden behind the wall hoping that they would leave and that no one had seen him, unfortunately that wasn't the case. A strong hand came from behind the wall and pulled Shepard into the kitchen. He was now face to face with an angry looking Batarian who did not seem friendly. He muttered something to one of his friends in a strange language and he approached with a collar that John had learned about in school: it was to make people slaves to the Batarians. Thankfully they never got that far for five shots went off hitting each Batarian through the head and killing them instantly John turned to see Auron in the doorway with his pistol raised and a bleeding hole in his left shoulder. At seeing that John was safe and uncollared he ran to the boy and stood him up._

"_Johnny we have to get out of here!" Auron instructed as he pushed the dazed boy out the door. As they ran they saw an armed sky car with several angry Batarians in it coming at them. Auron pushed John out of the way and avoided the car. They went back into the house where Auron began looting the Batarian corpses._

"_What are you doing?" John finally managed to ask._

"_Getting better armed, there's no way we'll survive with just one pistol." After a quick several seconds Auron had collected several inferno grenades and two M-22 Eviscerator shotguns, one of which he latched onto his back along with several fresh clips for the shot guns and his pistol. When the first Batarian tried to come through the door it was immediately taken out by Auron with a quick shot to the head._

"_Let's go!" Auron shouted as they ran from the house they were swarmed by several other Batarians which Auron dispatched with several more shots to the head. They quickly fell and the two continued running until they went to the Shepard's sky car. _

"_Quick get in!" Auron instructed. John did without question, Auron hotwired the car and as soon as it sprang to life there were firing sounds coming at them. One of the shots broke the back windshield causing John to scream in fear._

"_Hold on!" Auron yelled over the gun fire. He gunned the engine and drove off away from the firing Batarians. As they drove the shock finally began to set in John and he shook violently as he began crying. Auron noticed this and tried to calm his friend down._

"_Johnny come on, now's not the time to lose it. We need to stay calm and make it to the next city to alert the rest of the colony." John only nodded being unable to speak as they drove in silence the rest of the way. When they finally made it to the next town they were relieved to see that members of the Alliance were in the area suited and ready for battle. When they pulled the sky car up to them they were approached by a tall Alliance officer. He helped John out of the car and turned to Auron._

"_What happened?" he asked plainly._

"_Batarians attacked his home, killed his family. We're all that's left."_

"_And who are you?" the officer asked suspiciously._

"_I'm the boy's tutor," Auron said simply._

"_You're armed pretty violently for a tutor,"_

"_He's telling the truth," John managed gaining him a worried look from the officer. He eventually nodded and helped John up off the ground._

"_Don't worry kid; we'll get you out of here." John didn't say anything; he just stood and threw up unable to control himself any longer. The officer didn't seem to mind and let John get it out of his system before taking him to a make shift infirmary. He handed the boy a bottle of water and told him to drink slow before going off to talk to an official. Auron approached and looked at John sadly._

"_I'm going back to the house," he said bluntly._

"_You can't," John said defiantly._

"_Johnny we need to make sure that the Batarians don't destroy the valuables in the house, there all you have left now."_

"_I don't care about things, I don't want you to leave," John argued._

"_Don't worry Johnny I'll only be a while. I'll be back and we'll figure something out alright?" Auron didn't wait for an answer and ran back to the sky car; it was the last time John saw his friend in 16 years. The officer returned with a ration pack and another bottle of water._

"_Where's your friend going?" he asked. John didn't reply just wrapped his arms around his legs and cried silently. The officer placed the items down and sat beside the crying boy._

"_Hey it's alright son it'll be ok, what's your name?"_

"_John, John Shepard."_

"_Nice to meet you John, I'm Commander David Anderson."_

_Present time_

"After that Anderson took me to an Alliance base after the Batarians took Mindoir, I stayed there until I was 18 where I enlisted for the army. I assumed Auron had died since he never tried to contact me so I assumed I was alone, Anderson visited and did his best to make me feel at home. I have to admit if it wasn't for him I'd have gone crazy." Liara and Garrus just stared at Shepard in silence. His eyes were closed as the memories came flooding back to him. They knew that what happened on Mindoir was terrible but to hear someone's first hand recollection of it was a frightening thing.

"Oh Shepard, I'm so sorry." Liara finally said as she wrapped her hands around him. Garrus didn't embrace Shepard but put a supporting hand over his friends. Shepard opened his eyes and smiled at his two closest friends and silently thanked them. Suddenly they began to hear the sound of a piano being played above them. Liara and Shepard looked up in confusion as they traveled up the stairs to the upper level and looked up at the roof. There Auron was sitting at his piano playing the melody he used to play back when Shepard was a kid.

"What are you doing up there?" Shepard asked in an amused tone as he stepped onto the roof with Liara behind him.

"Well those block head Turians couldn't fit the piano through the door or the window, so they had to put it on the roof," Auron explained.

"Well that's unfortunate," Shepard said.

"Not at all!" Auron exclaimed happily, "We have a piano on the roof! How many people can say that?" As the Salarian laughed Shepard turned to Liara who had a confused look on her face as to why there was a piano on the roof.

"I asked Auron to live with us, I went this long thinking he was dead and finding out he was alive… well I didn't think to talk to you first, is that ok?"

"Of course Shepard I understand," Liara said in understanding. "And he can stay as long as he'd like."

"Thank you," Shepard said gratefully as he pulled Liara in for a kiss. When they separated Shepard (whose arms were still around Liara) looked towards Auron who was playing the same tuned and asked,

"You still know the words to that song?" Auron smiled as he replayed the song from the beginning, this time singing the words to it.

"_When life gets you down, wearing a frown, don't look away, look up!_

_'Cause memories true come out of the blue; you know the way - look up!_

_When skies have gone gray, things gone astray, don't look away, look up!_

_When life brings you down, you must never frown; just remember to look up;_

_When you're feeling under the weather, and the dark clouds are getting to you,_

_Keep your troubles light as a feather, and soon you'll be seeing a bright patch of blue;_

_You..._

_Gotta look up, you gotta be strong, you gotta take things as they come,_

_'Cause everything new that happens to you is better when you...look up!"_

Later that night Liara was working busily on her terminal, the day had brought many surprises and she wanted the simplicity of trading information. She never would have guessed how traumatizing Shepard's childhood was, she knew it had been bad but the way he acted she had always assumed he was a safe distance from the battle and not directly in the fray. He always had a calm and strong demeanor to his person, to know that he'd been bottling that up for half his life had to be stressful for him.

And then there was Auron.

She could hear the Salarian playing the piano on the roof and was amazed at the skill he displayed on the human instrument. She hoped that having Auron living with them would help Shepard emotionally and maybe finally get him to rest in the house. As she continued to work to the music she felt a pair of arms wrap around her neck as she felt someone's head rest atop her shoulder.

"Whatcha doing?" Shepard asked casually. Liara smiled as she turned to look at Shepard through the corner of her eye.

"I'm sending information to Tali about unexplored worlds in the Perseus Veil, the Quarians want to colonize as many worlds as they can in their area of space and in exchange she's sending me information on Geth upgrades."

"You're not sending any information about me are you? Because Auron warned me about how sneaky information brokers are."

"Oh really?" Liara asked suggestively. "Is that what I am now? Just an information broker."

"As far as he knows yes," Shepard said calmly. This was his way of telling her that it would be her call if she wanted to tell Auron she was the Shadow Broker.

"Well I don't know John; you may have to do something to keep me quiet." She immediately felt his lips on hers and she was forced to look away from her terminal to fully embrace John in the kiss. He suddenly pulled away and smiled a mysterious smile at Liara.

"I've got something for you, wait here." As he hobbled off Liara couldn't help but think what Shepard could be getting. When he returned he had a small box in his hand and was looking slightly flustered at something. She looked confused at Shepard as he fingered the box in his hands.

"We've been through a lot together the two of us. We've defeated Saren, killed the Shadow Broker (this he said barely above a whisper), cured the Genophage and defeated the Reapers. All of those are tremendous accomplishments but what I'm about to do will be a defining point in our relationship."

"Shepard what are you doing?" Liara asked as Shepard ungracefully got down on one knee. He held the box out in front of him and looked into Liara's clear azure eyes.

"You're the most important thing in the world to me Liara, and I want to know that throughout the years you will always be mine."

"John you know I will," Liara insisted unsure where he was going with this.

"Words aren't going to cut it anymore Liara; you have to do something to prove your love to me,"

Shepard opened the box revealing the most beautiful ring she had ever seen.

"Liara T'soni, will you do me the honors of marrying me?" Liara froze in shock at his words. It was finally making sense now. She felt completely ecstatic at his words but for whatever reason she couldn't help but question him.

"Wait a minute John; you want me… _me,_ to marry you?"

"Unless you have a better offer?" Shepard teased slightly. Liara couldn't contain herself any longer she leaped into the crouching Shepard's arms and kissed him more passionately then she ever had before. He was eventually forced to lie on the ground due to the force of her kiss but did nothing to pull away from the embrace. When she finally lifted her face from his there were tears of happiness threatening to fall from her face.

"Is that a yes then?" he asked. Liara laughed as she wiped away the tears that were forming at the bottom of her eyes.

"Yes, yes I will marry you John Shepard." John smiled a happy grin as he took the ring out of the box and slid it onto Liara's finger. It fit perfectly and she couldn't help but stare at it, admiring how beautiful it was.

"It was my grandmother's ring," Shepard explained. "The only thing she left me in her will, she made me promise that when I got it I'd propose to my future wife with it." Liara sobbed a happy sob as she kissed Shepard again on the floor. This moment was perfect.

"I love you John," She said in between sobs.

"I love you Liara,"

AN: WHEEEW talk about a lot to take in. Please review the story, I live for those, and I'll have the next chapter up ASAP, so until then.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 14: Wedding Preparations, Bring in the Cavalry

Shepard awoke the next morning in bed with Liara wrapped around him. He smiled as he looked down at his _fiancé_ and saw the ring shining brilliantly on her finger. After they made it to the bedroom Liara took it upon herself to _cement_ the deal, so to say, after he proposed. His joints were still sore from the night before but it would definitely go down in history as one of the best nights of his life. He turned to the clock besides their bed and saw that it was only five in the morning. Knowing he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep he gently removed Liara from himself and got out of the bed. Putting on a pair of boxers and his robe he exited the master bedroom. As he walked towards the kitchen he caught the smell of cooking eggs and bacon, once he entered he saw Auron at the stove with a white chef's hat and a 'kiss the cook' apron on. He turned when he heard Shepard enter the room and smiled at seeing him.

"G'morning Johnny, eggs and bacon?" he offered showing the pan of cooking eggs. Shepard nodded and took a seat at the kitchen table as Auron put a plate of eggs and bacon in front of him.

"What are you doing up already?" Shepard asked.

"I know I slept in, I only meant to get an hour and a half of sleep, not two hours. I guess the time change from Mindoir got me." At seeing Shepard's confused look he chuckled as he returned to the stove to prepare his next plate of food.

"You remember Shepard; Salarians only need about an hour of sleep a night. You know increased metabolism and what not." Shepard nodded as he dug into his plate of eggs, they were delicious. He and Liara weren't very good at cooking and normally went out to eat, to have something home made for them was a pleasant change.

"Looks like I brought a chef with me huh?" Shepard teased in between bites. Auron laughed as he continued cooking.

"I just want to be useful," he admitted. "I don't want to stay here and not contribute in some way." Shepard swallowed and shook his head. "Don't feel like you're obligated to do so Auron, I invited you to live with us."

"I know, I just want you to know I'm here to help," It wasn't long until Liara walked into the kitchen in a light blue robe; she sat on Shepard's lap and kissed him good morning.

"Good morning Shepard,"

"Morning beautiful, how'd you sleep?"

"Perfectly," she said while nuzzling into Shepard's shoulder. Suddenly Auron appeared and placed a plate of Asari fruit on the table for Liara.

"Good morning Liara, I hope the fruit is fresh enough."

"Good morning Auron and thank you. They look great." She reached for the plate and grabbed what looked like an apple. As she bit into it Auron took the empty seat on Shepard's left side with a small bowl of soup and a cup of tea for his breakfast.

"How did you sleep Auron?" Liara asked politely.

"Very well thank you, tell me though do you two normally wake up this early or should I have breakfast prepared for a later time tomorrow?" Liara looked to Shepard surprised but he answered for her.

"I normally wake up at 6:30 or so and Liara is normally up about half an hour afterwards."

"Very good I'll have your meals made then by those times." As the three ate their meals in silence Liara finally seemed ready to burst.

"Auron, did John tell you the good news?"

"Hmm news, what news?" Auron asked. Liara smiled and showed him the ring on her finger. Auron adjusted his glasses and smiled at the sight of the ring on her hand.

"Congratulations you two! I'm very happy for you both."

"Thanks Auron," Shepard said gratefully.

"So have we picked a date yet?" Auron asked teasingly. Both Shepard and Liara answered at the same time.

"No not yet," Shepard said.

"In a month," Liara said. At hearing Liara say those three words Shepard immediately turned to look at his fiancé with an obvious look of confusion.

"What do you mean in a month?" he asked. Liara looked at him with an equal look of confusion.

"John that's how Asari hold their bonding ceremonies, once it's agreed upon that the pair is exclusive they hold the celebration in a month. Don't humans have a bonding ceremony?"

"Well yeah, but it normally takes more than a month to plan Liara."

"Nonsense!" Liara said ecstatically. "I've already called my father and she's bringing my sisters over to help with the planning. I can have a hall, and a catering crew, I'll have to get a Matriarch to oversee the ceremony."

"Won't your dad count?" Shepard asked now thrown into the clutter of Liara's thought process. She waved away his words as she continued naming off things that she'd need to get done and immediately went into her room to change.

"I feel like I opened a can of worms," Auron said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it Auron," Shepard assured him. "Did you know about this month thing though? If anything I'd have thought Asari would draw the process out. You know the eon life span and everything."

"Nope can't say that I did Johnny," Auron admitted while drinking his tea. "Although in retrospect I never married one." Liara returned from their room in a violet sundress with Glyph now following her from behind.

"And make sure to have the first guest list sent to my Omni-tool immediately Glyph, I want all of our friends at the celebration but I think a small ceremony would be more appropriate. Don't you think so John?" Liara asked suddenly.

"Well I-"

"_Guest list sent Dr. T'soni,"_ Glyph said interrupting Shepard. Liara then walked away from Shepard as she began typing frantically again at her Omni-tool.

"It hasn't even been a day and she's working harder now than when we fought the Reapers!" Shepard exclaimed.

"From those soap operas I used to watch with your sister if she starts crying about things that haven't happened yet we need to run." Shepard ignored Auron's joke as his Omni-tool began to flash from receiving a message.

"Shepard I just sent you the potential guest list and a list of things I'm going to need you to get. Make sure to follow the list exactly and not to make any mistakes, we can't afford to waste time."

"Wait Liara calm down," Shepard finally said as he stood out of his chair and putting comforting hands on Liara's shoulders. "Now I'm not claiming to understand about Asari customs Liara but why don't we take our time in planning the wedding? We _did_ just get engaged."

"Trust me Shepard; this is how all Asari celebrate taking a mate. And then, we'll have the rest of our lives to take it easy." Shepard hesitated for a moment before finally nodding to his now smiling fiancé.

"Now go get changed we have a lot of work to do."

"But it's only 5:15," Shepard complained.

"I know! We shouldn't have overslept." As Liara walked away typing frantically on her Omni-tool Auron approached Shepard and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Looks like we've got a lot of work to do Johnny," Auron said determined.

"Oh come on how bad could it be?" Shepard asked. He opened the message Liara sent him on his Omni-tool and it spoke in Glyph's voice saying, "_Remaining amount of wedding preparations: 27 gigabytes." _

"Something tells me it's going to be a long day," Shepard moaned. He went in his room to change into a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt and his N7 Jacket. As he was walking out the door to his room he heard the happy squeals of several Asari at the door. He looked to the door and saw Liara hugging her father and her two sisters. On seeing Shepard changed Liara rushed to him and wrapped her arms in his to drag him over to her family.

"John you remember Korra and Forla right?"

"Yeah of course, nice to see you two again." He said politely. Korra and Forla were Liara's half-sisters from her father's side. Korra's father was a Hanar: she had dark blue skin and four white lines going down her face resembling in some sense a Hanar's tentacles. She was wearing a violet dress that hugged her body complimentarily. Forla looked almost exactly like Aethyta and was also wearing a form hugging dress that was red. Her father was a Krogan.

"Welcome to the family John!" Korra exclaimed as she hugged him and Liara happily. Forla shared her congratulations but, like her father, refrained from getting overly emotional. They all walked past a now dressed Auron who watched as the women swarmed the kitchen where Liara had already laid out several data pads with wedding materials on them. Suddenly Shepard's Omni-tool beeped again, he checked the message and saw that Liara's list had been upgraded.

"_Remaining amount of wedding preparations: 42 gigabytes."_

"It was only 27 a minute ago!" Shepard shouted. He turned to Auron, who was shaking his head, and said, "We're going to need some help." Shepard had called Garrus and was grateful to learn that he hadn't left Thessia. Shepard told him to make a run and pick up a few friends and to bring them back to Thessia as soon as possible. Garrus had agreed and left with extreme speed and urgency as he went to his first stop. Shepard and Auron however started off small until his back up could arrive, so they settled looking over the guest list. He was happy to see that all of his friends were there: Garrus, Tali, Wrex, Grunt, James, Kaidan, Hackett, Kasumi, Zaeed, and Kirrahe (who Auron informed Shepard would_ not _be a threat to his cover) but was confused to see countless leaders of worlds invited as well. He approached Liara at the table and questioned her on it.

"Liara why are we inviting the head of governments to our wedding? I don't even like the council, why are they invited?"

"John it's a sign of respect when you invite such powerful figures to your bonding ceremony. Don't worry they won't be invited to the party afterwards just the ceremony joining us."

"But the council?" Shepard complained? Liara sighed and finally relented. "Shepard if your love for me isn't as deep for your hate of the councilors than fine, don't invite them." Shepard was about to say something when Auron covered his mouth quickly.

"It's a trap! Don't. Say. _Anything._ Just back away, we have more important things to do then argue about the council." Conceding to Auron's words Shepard followed the Salarian out of the house; both hoping they could finish what was on their list before it doubled again.

They never put a dent in it. For 1 week straight days they ran from one store on Thessia to another and the minute they got something done the list updated itself to completely change what they had just accomplished. The only thing Shepard had managed to do correctly was find a Matriarch to observe the ceremony. After making a few calls and cashing in a few favors he was able to convince Sha'ira the Consort to observe the ceremony. He was relieved when Liara actually approved of his choice of Matriarch, truth be told she was just one of the only two she knew, and Liara said they couldn't use Aethyta. Aside from that small victory Shepard and Auron got next to nothing done correctly and Liara was quickly becoming aggravated. It seemed to Shepard though that her sisters were adding to the flames, not out of cruelty but due to the excitement in throwing a wedding celebration. Apparently Liara was the only of the three sisters who hadn't already bonded, which was acceptable since she was still in her maiden stage while Korra and Forla were well in their matron stage. Korra was bonded to a Turian while Forla was bonded with a Salarian. They hadn't come to the house with them (conveniently) but the ladies insisted that they'd be at the wedding.

Finally after all hope seemed to be lost Shepard got a call from his Omni-tool from Garrus, he answered it immediately to see a smiling Garrus on the other end.

"_Shepard the cavalry has arrived, we're waiting at the port for you."_

"I'm on my way," he said ending the call and turning to Auron. "We've got a week and a half to get back on the women's good side Auron, now let's plan a wedding."

_At the port_

The cavalry Garrus mention consisted of himself, Tali, Wrex, Grunt, Bakara, Kasumi and Feron. Kaidan was supposed to be a part of the group but was unable to escape from his duties, already a man short Shepard's team had a short time to prepare a wedding and not a lot of time remaining. Shepard walked before his assembled team like a general to his soldiers, spelling out the situation and what was expected of them.

"Alright team listen up: As most of you are well aware right now Liara and I are getting married; now by some strange twisted tradition Asari throw the ceremony together in a month. Now with only two weeks remaining we have an ever growing list of things to do, and I'm going to need the combined skills of each of you to help me get remotely close to having this wedding thrown successfully." Grunt raised his hand absently and Shepard sighed, not even having gotten to the point yet.

"Yes Grunt?" he asked.

"What the hell's a wedding?" the young Krogan asked bluntly. Wrex slapped the tank bred as Shepard said, "Not important, now we're all going to split into teams of three and each team is going to be given a sizeable chunk of list to deal with. In addition to the applied funds you will all be allowed to use my Spectre status to get things moving a little faster. Any questions?" Grunt raised his hand again but Wrex hit it away as the teams broke off and went on with their tasks.

_Team 1: Shepard, Auron, Feron_

"Alright Shepard, what's on our list to get done?" Feron asked. With his access to the Shadow Broker's resources Shepard was fairly sure Feron would be able to speed through their section of the list.

"Alright we're in charge of booking the temple for the ceremony, planning the Honeymoon, assigning the caterer and something about floral arrangements." Shepard said checking his Omni-tool. "And each task has several sub classes we have to follow.

"That sounds like Liara," Feron said as he typed away at his Omni-tool. "The Honey moon should be the easiest thing to take care of, any ideas where you want to go?"

"I don't know, I've never been on a planet that I wasn't getting shot at." Shepard admitted. Feron went on tapping for several seconds as they walked towards the temple and said, "I can have you booked in the master suite on Kahje, beach front view and direct access within the area. I can say from experience that it's a beautiful place."

"That's the Hanar home world isn't it?" Shepard asked. "A Prothean Ruin is there right?"

"That is correct."

"Book it, and then I need you to work on the caterer Feron. Auron and I will go and book the temple."

"Understood," Feron said before walking off. As Shepard and Auron made it to the temple they noticed a small line outside the door.

"Once we get the temple booked those flower arrangements will be in the bag," Shepard said confidently. As the line progressed they walked into the building, only to see that the entire room was a line to several podiums where people could make appointments. Shepard looked to a sign and it read, _Current wait time: 3 days._

"You had to say something," Auron complained as Shepard moaned.

"Let's hope the others are having better luck than us."

_Team 2: Garrus, Tali, Kasumi_

"What the hell is a Krystal drinking ware?" Garrus asked as he looked down at the list on his Omni-tool.

"Well on Earth it's a fancy glass that's been handmade or something, I don't have a clue if it's the same on Thessia though," Kasumi said. They made it to the store where they ran into an Asari at the service desk.

"Can I help you three?" the Asari asked as they approached, Garrus walked up to the Asari.

"Miss a close personal friend of ours is getting married in 2 weeks and we need some help finding everything on this list." The Asari looked through the list and shook her head apologetically.

"I'm sorry sir but most of the items on this list need to be pre ordered in advance by at least a month." Garrus turned to Kasumi and gave her a short nod before turning back to the Asari and blocking Kasumi who had just activated her cloak and was now traveling to the Asari's terminal.

"Miss do you know who I am?" Garrus demanded. "My name is Garrus Vakarian of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance," he flashed his badge so she knew he was serious, "Now I don't care what you're telling me but if this list isn't finished it's going to be a galactic incident. I will personally raid this store and take what I need out of your warehouse, am I understood?"

"Look Spectre Vakarian," the Asari said a little angrily. "I'm sorry but if you didn't preorder the needed materials I can't get them to you in time."

"But the name of the party is right there," Tali said pointing at Shepard's name. The Asari looked at the name and the pre ordered forms and looked back at Garrus and Tali in disbelief.

"You expect me to believe that you two know Commander Shepard?"

"It's Admiral Shepard now," Garrus said sternly. "And there is no Shepard without Vakarian; now are you going to fulfill his order or do I need to order a strike team of Geth Primes to cease the building?" The Asari stared at Garrus for a moment to see if he was bluffing but when he didn't back down she said, "Fine, follow me and we can pick out what you need." As soon as she turned around Kasumi materialized besides Tali.

"Who would have thought a store would have government protection," Kasumi said absently as they walked.

"It's an Asari thing, that's why the crime rate is so low here," Garrus explained.

"But Geth Primes? Keelah Garrus it's like you _want _to start a war or something," Tali complained. Garrus's mandibles twitched slightly as he said, "Complain if you want Tali, right now we have a wedding to plan. Now what are we going to do about hiring help? Can we get the Geth to do it?"

"No it says on the list 'no Geth servants', can't say I'm against that." Tali said.

"Alright Kasumi you and Tali pick out the Krystal, or whatever the hell we're buying, I'll go and handle the hired help."

"Great you get the fun job," Tali said sarcastically. Garrus didn't say anything as he ran out of the room.

_Team 3: Wrex, Grunt, Bakara_

"EVERYBODY DOWN, EVERYBODY DOWN, THIS IS A RAID!" Wrex shouted at the top of his lungs while firing off several shots from his claymore. Grunt repeated Wrex's procedure and soon the area was completely cleared out of civilians, except for one unfortunate Asari working behind the counter.

"What the hell were you two idiots thinking?" Bakara demanded as she head butted Wrex and Grunt.  
"What? Shepard told us to book the hall no matter the cost, I'd say that's worth bringing out the old Claymore," Wrex reasoned. Bakara shook her head and walked over to the Asari now hiding beneath her desk.

"You must forgive my husband, he means well but he has the mind the size of a rabid Varren,"

"Hey!" Wrex whined. The Asari slowly crawled from beneath the desk and said in a hushed voice, "Please don't hurt me."

"Give us the keys to the building then," Grunt said menacingly as he pointed his Claymore at the Asari.

"Grunt that's enough!" Bakara snapped before looking back at the young Asari. "Please, all we'd like is to book the hall on this date for Admiral Shepard's wedding."

"Fine! Yes! I'll do it, just leave, please!" the Asari begged. As the three Krogan walked out of the hall Wrex smiled and slapped Grunt in the back happily.

"I think that went rather well don't you? Maybe we should get jobs as wedding planners!" Bakara shook her head as they crossed off getting the hall on the list.

"It says here that we need to find entertainment now," Bakara said flatly.

"I'll call up Dagg back at Tuchanka and have him bring some Varren up for some fights!" Wrex said happily, earning him yet another slap from Bakara.

"The list says specifically: No Varren fighting, thresher maws, shoot outs, grenade juggling, wrestling or singing Hanar."

"What the hell's left then?" Grunt asked.

"It's called a band Grunt, the play music and entertain the guests." Bakara said sternly. Wrex was about to suggest something when Bakara slapped him in the face again.

"And it says very specifically that you're not to be the headliner Wrex," Wrex grumbled something about not being able to have any fun when Grunt's Omni-tool went off.

"Yeah? Uh huh. Uh huh. Ok. I'll be right there, don't go anywhere."

"Who was that?" Wrex asked curiously.

"Shepard, said he wanted me to clear a path for him at the temple, whatever that means." As Grunt headed out for the temple Wrex sighed sadly.

"What's wrong now Wrex?" Bakara snapped.

"Nothing, young people just get to have all the fun," Wrex complained. Bakara shook her head as she and Wrex walked off to look for the entertainment.

_Back at the house: Liara, Aethyta, Korra, Forla_

The Asari back at the house minus Liara were all waiting in the living room while the bride to be was trying on dresses. She was changing into the next dress of dozens to model for her sisters and father; unfortunately they seemed to find something wrong with each of her dresses. As she was dressing herself Glyph was giving her an update on how Shepard was doing on the list. She was fairly surprised to see that in one day he had done infinitely more than the previous week. She felt guilty for springing the one month date on him and hoped that he wasn't getting frustrated with her. She just wanted everything to be perfect. As she was about to put on the finishing touches of her current gown she heard Korra calling to her from the living room.

"Liara? You better come in here, there's something you have to see!" Liara rushed out of the room to find her family eyeing the TV expectantly.

"What's wrong?" Liara asked.

"Your bond mates on TV," Aethyta said as she increased the volume so Liara could hear.

"_Thankfully no one in the buildings were injured. In related news: John Shepard and company were arrested today when two Krogan were caught emptying both the Armali Dining Halls and the Temple of the Goddess Athame with angry gun shots. When officials went to arrest the Krogan responsible Shepard insisted it was done on Spectre business; refusing to explain and having no viable reason Admiral Shepard along with his two Krogan and Salarian accomplices have been arrested and will be held for questioning._

"I don't believe it!" Liara said angrily. Aethyta did not share her daughter's rage and found the situation extremely humorous. "I have to give him credit; I never would have expected him to bring Krogan to help with the arrangements. Hey, where are you going?"she called out after Liara, seeing her heading for the door still in her gown.

"I'm going to bail my bond mate out of jail!" she replied angrily.

_Holding Cell: Shepard, Auron, Wrex, Grunt_

The Quartet had been sitting in their cell for a few hours now. Auron had somehow snuck a harmonica with him into the cell and began playing it after several minutes of silence in the cell. As they sat Wrex suddenly chuckled causing the others to look at him.

"Something funny Wrex?" Shepard asked dryly.

"Well more ironic really," Wrex said. "Everything we've done in the past and they arrest us for _this_? You've got to admit it's pretty funny."

"Liara's gonna kill me," Shepard moaned as he put his head into his hands.

"We're probably safer in the cell, when they come to question us spit in their face so they give us lock up until the wedding," Wrex suggested. As Shepard shook his head Grunt began fidgeting in his seat.

"Why don't we just break out? No way those bars or walls can hold us." He complained.

"Grunt, now isn't the best time to break holes into a prison. We did enough of that back on Purgatory, remember?" The tank bred thought back to the trip where they freed Jack from the prison and how they managed to blow through the walls to kill their enemies. As Grunt laughed at the 'fond memory' an Asari official walked in looking at the odd group through the bars before turning her gaze onto Shepard.

"You have a visitor Admiral. They posted your bail so we'll let you out as soon as it's processed." Shepard was about to curse Garrus (who he had called with his one phone call) for taking so long when from the door way stood an angry, beautifully dressed Liara, who was now staring angrily at Shepard through the bars.

"Liara," Shepard said fearfully. "How did you-"

"Your little incident made the news Shepard, it isn't every day two Krogan shoot up a hall and a church." She said angrily.

"Hey Bakara was there to! Why isn't she locked up with us?" Wrex demanded, making sure to stand _behind_ Shepard.

"As a Councilor she was exempt from any charges," Liara explained. "And besides she DIDN'T SHOOT UP A CHURCH OR A HALL!" her shouting caused everyone in the cell to flinch including the officer who had led her in. She turned her gaze back to Shepard and he could tell that she was angry.

"Honestly Shepard I'd have understanded if you needed help, but calling Wrex and Grunt to help make arrangements for the wedding? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I needed the best," Shepard said defensively.

"The best? Shepard when I think of planning a wedding the last people to cross my mind to ask for help would be Wrex and Grunt,"

"Look I'll admit that their way of doing things is… aggressive," Shepard said, refusing to back down. "But they got the job done. They helped me reserve the hall, put our name in at the Temple of Athame _and _they got us the entertainment for the reception."

"So I can look forward to seeing Varren clawing at one another at my wedding reception?" Liara said frustrated.

"Bakara wouldn't let us," Grunt muttered under his breath. Thankfully Liara didn't hear him due to Wrex speaking loudly enough to hide his words.

"No there won't be any Varren at your reception; we booked the Blue Giants to play at your reception," Wrex announced proudly.

"The Blue Giants? The first runner ups at the 2185 Galactic Video Music Awards? Those Blue Giants?" Liara asked in disbelief.

"Well it sure as hell ain't the one orbiting Thessia," Wrex muttered sorely.

"And just how did you get one of the biggest bands in the galaxy to play at my wedding?" Liara asked. "Did you threaten to blow their knee caps or something?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Wrex scoffed. "I did some security work for them early on and they owed me a favor for going 'above and beyond' in my job as security." Liara looked at Wrex for a moment to see if he was joking but when his expression didn't change she turned her gaze back at Shepard. After closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she visibly calmed down and looked at Shepard with a confused and questioning look.

"John, why didn't you just tell the hall and church it was for _my wedding?_ My mother made several reservations in her name in case I ever got married; it was to ease the process of preparing the wedding."

"You didn't tell me to do that!" Shepard said almost angrily. "All you did was give me a never ending list and said 'here you have a month to finish it'!"

"So now it's my fault?" Liara demanded angrily.

"I didn't say that," Shepard said defensively before turning around to his fellow cell mates. "Did I ever say it was he fault guys?"

"I thought it was implied," Grunt said bluntly, earning him a groan from Shepard and a slap from Wrex and Auron. Shepard sighed and looked back at Liara threw the bars of the cell.

"Look," he started pitifully, "I'm sorry. I should have gone to you for help first instead of calling in the cavalry. You were just so excited last week when you were making the plans with your dad and sisters; I didn't want to ruin your fun by telling you I had no idea what I was doing, so I called Garrus before he left to pick me up some help. But you were right, from now on I promise to come to you for help before the guys." Liara stared at him for a few moments trying to keep the stern look on her face but eventually failing and showing a small smile.

"Alright John, I understand. And I suppose I could have told you about my mother's preparations before sending you out. Can you forgive me?" Shepard smiled and grabbed Liara's hands through the cell bars.

"Of course." The two kissed through the bars for several moments as the others looked away awkwardly from the two. When they separated Shepard finally made note of the dress Liara was wearing.

"You look amazing by the way,"

"Well that's too bad, I can't wear it now."

"Why not?" he asked in confusion.

"You saw it before the wedding day, that's bad luck in human culture isn't it?" Shepard chuckled as the officer approached and opened the cell door.

"Come on," he said putting his arm through hers. "Let's go home," As the couple walked away Auron, Wrex and Grunt went to leave the cell as the officer slammed the door in front of them.

"Hey, what the hell?" Wrex demanded through the bars.

"Bail was only posted for Admiral Shepard," the Asari said curtly. "_You_ three are here until Councilor Bakara chooses to post your bail."

"Umm, I'm with them," Auron said nervously as he pointed to the departing couple. The cop checked her data pad and shook her head. "Nope sorry, Ms. T'soni didn't post bail for you, you'll have to wait with the others." As the cop left the three sat back down on the bench sore about being left in jail.

"So much for no man left behind," Wrex muttered. He then chuckled with an afterthought. "Guess we'll have to remember that for the bachelor party, ay Grunt?" Grunt didn't reply but chuckled at the thought of the party.

"So when is your mate going to bail us out?" Auron asked.

"Ahh I'm sure she'll be here any moment. Bakara can't stand being away from me," Wrex said confidently. They all jumped when Bakara kicked the doors open and looked angrily at Wrex with a shot gun pointed at him.

"WREX YOU INSUFFERABLE BASTARD, YOU LEFT ME TO GET ARRESTED!" As she cocked the gun Wrex used Auron as a Salarian shield.

"Then again, maybe some time apart would be good for us."

AN: Thanks for reading everyone! Please review, you all know how I love those. I'll have the next chapter up ASAP, so until then.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 15: Bachelor Party

It had been several days since Shepard and the others had been bailed from prison, since the wedding was only 11 days away everyone Shepard had called in to help had decided to stay on Thessia until the wedding. While Liara and her family put the finishing touches on the wedding plans Wrex, Garrus and Shepard were out in the backyard with a cold beer each, talking about a very important matter.

"What do you mean no bachelor party Shepard? Even I know it's a tradition," Garrus complained. Shepard simply shook his head as he took a drink from his beer. "Liara doesn't like strippers Garrus you know that, and besides we all know that's the only reason most guys have a bachelor party."

"That's not true Shepard," Wrex argued. "A bachelor party signifies the final hurrah in a man's life before he gets hitched! To not have one is a crime against men everywhere," Garrus nodded in agreement and Shepard had to admit that Wrex had a very good point.

"What did you have in mind then Wrex?" Shepard asked curiously. Wrex finished the rest of his beer in a single swallow before tossing the bottle on the ground and looking at Shepard with a serious look on his face.

"When Krogan successfully form a mating contract the male, along with his krantt, go into the deserts of Tuchanka where they literally do nothing but get wasted and shoot anything that tries to interrupt them. We even had one for Grunt not too long ago,"

"Seriously? Grunt found a wife?" Shepard asked in surprise.

"Yup, pretty young thing by the name of Nova. She's due to give birth in a few months even, probably won't be more than two survivors though unfortunately. But Nova's fertile and the seeds are sticking,"

"I wonder why Grunt didn't tell me," Shepard wondered aloud as he drank his beer.

"He was worried you'd be upset about not being able to go to the party; it's kinda funny actually, the whelp will run head first into a cave of Rachni but doesn't do anything that he thinks would piss you off Shepard," Shepard took a quick moment to consider Wrex's words but shook them off as he considered the main ploy in Wrex's plan.

"So let me get this straight: you want to go to the middle of a desert on Tuchanka and get drunk with ammunition?"

"Yup that's pretty much it," Wrex agreed as he downed another beer and dropped the bottle onto the small pile forming at the foot of his seat.

"Wrex, as fun as that sounds, how am I going to convince Liara to let me go drinking on one of the most dangerous planets in the galaxy?"

"Tell her it's a mandatory custom in human traditions," Garrus suggested suddenly. "After all we've basically finished planning a wedding in under a month, we've put several Salarian wedding planners to shame."

"Yeah but Liara would never believe that Garrus, she does know _something _about human traditions. Not like me and her culture."

"Come on Shepard; you're going to spend the rest of your life with Liara, you don't want to regret a hundred years from now that you never had a bachelor party would ya?" Wrex asked. Shepard had to admit that his friends had a point. He looked into the house and saw Liara and Korra working on some interior design for the hall and decided that the least he could do was ask. After all, he did do the unthinkable and planned a wedding in a week. He finished off his beer and dropped the bottle onto Wrex's pile of empty bottles and limped into the house. He had recovered significantly the past few weeks and no longer needed his cane to walk; he did however had a significant limp that was obvious to anyone who watched him. He limped behind Liara and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the cheek: causing her to blush and smile from the surprise.

"You busy?" he asked casually looking over the plans on the dining room table.

"Korra and I were just about to take a break why?" she asked.

"Well there's something I wanted to ask you," As Korra left to speak with Aethyta Shepard sat down at the table and expressed his wish to have a 'final hurrah' as Wrex put it with his guy friends. He assured her that there'd be no strippers and that it was basically a camping trip on Tuchanka.

"Is giving Wrex and Grunt access to ammunition really a good idea when there drunk?" Liara asked skeptically.

"That was my thought," Shepard said chuckling. He looked back at Liara with a little bit of pleading in his eyes as he asked again. "Please? I promise we won't do anything crazy," Liara looked at Shepard while she bit her lower lip in thought, a simple action that instantly aroused Shepard for some reason.

"Does it have to be Tuchanka? What if something were to happen?" Liara asked worriedly.

"Well there will be two Krogan, three Spectres, a bounty hunter and a former STG agent there; I doubt anything bad would happen." Liara bit her lip in though again but broke out laughing when Shepard gave her a playful, pitifully begging look that broke her resolve.

"Alright fine," she conceded. "You can go out with the guys,"

"Thank you," Shepard said appreciatively as he kissed her warmly. She accepted the kiss and smiled when they separated but gave Shepard one more look. "You can go but I want you to bring Feron with you; I trust _you_ not to get strippers for the party but I don't trust Garrus or Wrex to agree with that rule."

"Deal," Shepard said with a smile. Hearing that they had the green light for the party Wrex and Garrus called up all of their male friends who were off of Thessia and to meet them on Tuchanka in two days; Wrex had sent them the necessary coordinates and was now busy collecting his things and avoiding Bakara. As the men all packed for their trip Shepard went to the roof of his home where he found Auron playing on the piano. Shepard recognized the song; it was the old classic song _'Rag to Riches'_, he was prepared to wait for Auron to finish playing but on hearing him approach Auron smiled and spoke up while still playing the piano.

"Beautiful night isn't it Johnny? You can see more of the stars here on Thessia; Mindoir never had a view like this."

"Your right," Shepard agreed, he looked up at the stars as he listened to Auron play the piano. Suddenly the old Salarian stopped and moved over on the stool in front of the piano and patted the stool gesturing for Shepard to join him. As Shepard limped into the seat Auron tapped at a few keys as he asked, "Do you remember our old duet? _Gabriel Fauré's Berceuse _from the_ Dolly Suite Op. 56_?"

"God it's been 16 years since I've even heard that song," Shepard sighed as he looked down at the piano like it was a ticking bomb. Auron chuckled as he shook his head and encouraged his former student.

"Come on Johnny it's like riding a bike, you never really forget. Come on, I'll start."

(AN: For anyone curious about the song it's the duet played on the movie Bicentennial Man. Auron is playing little misses part while Shepard plays Andrews.)

Auron started the song by playing several simple keys, when his part was done he turned to Shepard expectantly waiting for him to begin his part. Hesitantly Shepard pressed several keys that matched Auron's rhythm earning him a smile from the elderly Salarian. Soon the two began playing in unison and aside from a few sour notes from Shepard's end they played fairly well together. When the song was finally over Auron looked over at Shepard with a smile and clasped a hand on his shoulder approvingly.

"Did you need something?" he asked simply. Shepard nodded, remembering his reason for coming up to see him. "The men are going to Tuchanka to throw me a Krogan style bachelor party, you want to come?" Auron laughed leaving Shepard confused.

"Shepard I'm an old man, you don't want me going with you on your bachelor party,"

"Yes I do," Shepard protested. "And your 32, same age as me."

"Yes and that's old for Salarians."

"Come on Auron, Wrex is easily over 500 years old. Please?" Auron laughed as he finally nodded in agreement. "Alright alright I'll come, just let me get packed." It wasn't long before Shepard, Wrex, Garrus, Grunt, Feron and Auron were boarding the Cloaked Dagger along with saying good bye to the others. Shepard was saying good bye to Liara as was Garrus to Tali and Wrex to Bakara.

"Please be careful," Liara pleaded again as she kissed Shepard before he headed onto the ship.

"I will," Shepard promised as they separated.

"Come on Shepard! Last one on the ship buys the first barrel of Ryncol!" Wrex called as he ran aboard the ship. Shepard shook his head with a smile as he gave Liara one last kiss.

"You should have some fun while I'm gone," Shepard proposed. "A Bachelorette party."

"Shepard please, I don't need a last hurrah like you do," Liara assured him.

"It's not just that Liara," Shepard told her. "It's the last time you can spend time with your friends and family as a single woman. Have fun, ok?" Liara had no time to answer for Grunt had appeared out of nowhere and had picked Shepard up over his head against the human's protesting.

"Come on Shepard! The sooner we get home the sooner we can shoot at Thresher Maws," As Grunt marched up to the ship Shepard struggled to look behind the running tank bred as he shouted out to Liara from the air, "I love you!" Liara waved good bye laughing at the situation as the port to the ship closed and the ship raised into the sky.

"Be safe," she whispered to herself.

The ride back to Tuchanka was, thankfully, not a very long one. Once the ship had hit the Relay it took them only a day and a half before they made it to the Krogan home world. Garrus had sent messages to Kaidan and Zaeed and told them where to meet them on the planet. They also invited James but unfortunately due to his N7 training he was unable to attend, fortunately though he said that he would be there for the wedding. When the ship landed at the Tuchanka space port and the group exited the space ship they were stunned to see how much Tuchanka had progressed. There were no longer any demolished buildings and ruin remains, there were now beautiful buildings above ground and pleasant looking businesses that were taking place in the ruins. They could also see a large building where the hollows was known to be that Wrex explained was now the main meeting point for the Krogan rulers.

"The clans are now officially one united Krogan Union, the former heads of each clan are now members of the Union and represent their percentage of people. Kind of like the Quarian Admirals."

"Yeah just with more shot guns and Thresher Maws," Garrus said sarcastically. Wrex laughed and nodded in agreement. "Yeah your right!" As Wrex led the group through the city they approached a bar called the Snarling Varren, once inside the bar they immediately saw Zaeed and Kaidan who waved the group over to them. As soon as the introductions were finished they got down to business.

"So how much booze we lookin' to bring on this excursion?" Zaeed asked almost excitedly. "They're gonna be a minimum?"

"Massani the minimum is as much as we can carry, were bringing a Mako for this party so it better be filled to the brim." Wrex ordered. Zaeed laughed viciously as he looked at the bar. "This is gonna be a fun couple of days," he rasped. The group went to the bar where they ordered enough alcohol to intoxicate a Reaper along with a few days' worth of food. While everyone ordered there preferred selections Wrex bought two full barrels of Ryncol, insisting that it was a tradition in Krogan mating celebrations. Not wanting to kill Wrex's high spirits Shepard didn't say anything about it, although he did silently pray that there was a VI on the Mako that would do the driving. After leaving the bar, and a very happy bartender, a Krogan drove up to the bar in the Mako and stopped abruptly. He then exited the Mako and tossed the keys to Wrex.

"Your Mako Warlord, will there be anything else you need?"

"Yeah, help us load all the booze. It's gonna be a fun night," Wrex said with a smile on his face. The group began loading the alcohol into the Mako and it wasn't until they were finished that they realized they'd need another one to fit their posse, so after waiting Dagg returned with another Mako. Wrex, Grunt, Shepard and Auron all piled into one Mako while Garrus, Feron, Kaidan and Zaeed all piled into the Mako with all of the booze. Wrex drove insisting that he knew the perfect spot for their 'man party'. After half an hour of driving Shepard turned towards Grunt.

"Why didn't you tell me you found a mate Grunt?" The tank bred Krogan looked down sheepishly away from Shepard.

"I don't know. It just seemed weird to tell you,"

"Well congratulations," Shepard said patting Grunt on the shoulder.

"Thanks Shepard," Grunt said happily.

"So when's the baby due?" Shepard asked. Not bothering to ask where Shepard heard he scratched under his chin in thought. "I think in a month or so, she thinks that the baby's gonna be a boy the way it kicks at her."

"Any ideas for a name?" Before Grunt could answer the Mako came to a sudden halt causing those in the war machine to fall off of their seats.

"We're here!" Wrex yelled happily as he opened the hatch of the Mako jumping out excitedly. As the others slowly followed them they walked out into what was literally the middle of nowhere, nothing but desert in every direction as far as the eye could see.

"Alright everyone lets unload the booze and food and get this party started!" Wrex declared. It wasn't long until the refreshments were unloaded and a roaring fire was made and the group already into the booze. They had a great time until a tipsy Wrex stood up and spoke in a serious manner.

"Alright everyone!" the Krogan said as seriously as he could. "As is tradition among Krogan we now have to make sure that Shepard, our brother and good friend is serious about marrying Liara; and as his brothers it's up to us to poke holes in his happiness to make sure this is what he really wants.

"And what if he doesn't want to get married after were done with him?" Garrus slurred as he tipped back the bottle of a dextro drink.

"Then he knows he needs a divorce ASAP," Wrex said jokingly getting laughs from everyone except for Feron.

"You do realize Asari do not get 'divorces'. They either wait for their bond mate to die or hire a commando to take them out." The group looked at Feron surprisingly, who responded with a simple shrug and by drinking from his bottle of Drell rum. "What?" he asked. "It happens more than you think."

"Regardless," Wrex announced. "We need to make sure that Shepard's ready for this,"

"And how do we do that Wrex?" Shepard asked with a slight slur in his tone.

"Simple," Wrex announced downing the rest of his bottle and throwing it to the ground in a shatter. "You gotta beat me in single combat!" The old Krogan declared. Everyone looked at Wrex surprised except for Zaeed, who laughed as he drank from his bottle of bourbon failing to get half the liquid into his mouth.

"I wish a Krogan had said that to me years ago," Zaeed announced. "Woulda saved me a whole lotta trouble."

"You're married?" Kaidan asked surprised.

"No but some bitch managed to convince me that it was my bloody kid, left me with an ankle bitter and took half my stuff with her."

"Was it your kid?" Auron asked.

"Well yeah technically,"

"Then you were supposed to take care of her," Garrus argued. Zaeed stood up and swayed as he pointed his half empty bourbon bottle at the Turian who had chosen to speak.

"Hey! I did right by that little girl; made sure she went to school, made sure she kept out of trouble, everything a pap's supposed to do aye? I love that little girl like she was my own."

"She is your own Zaeed," Kaidan reminded the old merc.

"That's right she is!" Zaeed said with a laugh as he finished his current bottle off and reached for another. After drinking deeply from the new bottle he eyed Shepard squarely and gestured at his general area.

"Rule Number 1 about women Shepard: No matter what they say, they're gonna wan' kids someday. And if you want the marriage to work you better damn want em too."

"That's not a problem," Shepard assured as he put down his whiskey bottle. "Liara and I have already decided we wanna have kids someday, little blue children running amok."

"You think you're ready to be a dad Shepard?" Auron asked seriously. Shepard looked at his old friend and shook his head worriedly.

"I don't fucken know," Shepard admitted. "What if I'm no good at it?"

"What do you mean?" Grunt asked.

"I don't know how to be a dad," Shepard complained. "My own dad just treated me as cheap labor, how'm I supposed to know how to treat my future daughters?"

"How'd you know you're gonna have daughters?" Zaeed asked seriously cradling his bottle like a new born.

"He's marrying an Asari you moron there all women," Garrus shouted with a drunken laugh.

"Oh yeah, Heh, right."

"It won't be as bad as you think Shepard," Auron assured him while drinking what is considered the Salarian version of a light beer. "Just treat _your _kids the way you wished Jack would have treated you," Shepard nodded agreeing with Auron's advice when he felt a large three fingered hand grab him by the back of his shirt and hoist him up.

"Come on Shepard," Wrex said tauntingly. "You and me. Right now. Mono e mono." As Wrex spoke he was in a sloppy fighting stance and was hopping from one foot to another like a human boxer would. He was so focused on Shepard that he didn't see Grunt charge into him from the side knocking him down.

"I shall fight for my battle master's honor," Grunt declared as he pointed down at Wrex. Wrex shook himself off from the shock and eyed the tank bred before breaking out into laughter.

"Alright whelp you can have this round," he said before heading to one of the barrels of Ryncol. He uncorked the barrel and grabbed several of the empty bottles discarded on the ground and filled them with the Krogan beverage and then handed them to everyone around the fire.

"As a Krogan tradition we all go around the fire explaining a regret we've had in our life before meeting our mates. Once you finish your tale: down the Ryncol."

"I am so fuckin' in," Zaeed announced finishing his bourbon and glaring at the Ryncol in his hand. The others agreed and Wrex announced that he would go first.

"Ok, my biggest regret has always been leaving Tuchanka all those years ago after my father tried to have me killed," he admitted. "I should have stayed and tried to get the Krogan online for a better future, but I was disgusted by my race and wanted nothing more to do with them. I always thought I could have done more if I had stayed."

"Ah come on Wrex!" Garrus slurred. "Look what you've done for the Krogan, you've made them a force to be reckoned with and, _AND_ you got them a seat on the council."

"Pretty impressive," Feron agreed. Wrex smiled as he laughed drunkenly. "Never thought I'd see a day a Turian would be comforting me," he admitted. He took his bottle of Ryncol and downed the entire bottle in one go. He shook his head violently in an attempt to get the sting from the drink out of his head as he yelled out drunkenly "KARBOL!" As soon as his show was over he pointed over to Garrus and said,

"Alright pretty boy your turn." Garrus chuckled and looked down at his dextro drink, he was unable to drink Ryncol but Wrex made sure to buy a bottle of the hardest dextro based drink the bartender had in his stores to make up for it.

"Well my biggest regret? Definitely losing my team back on Omega. I know we let Sidonis go because he said he was tortured but I still regret not of putting a bullet through his head." Not waiting for anyone to respond to his story he drained his drink before coughing wildly after the burning liquid passed through his throat. Zaeed was next in line and seemed at ease considering the situation.

"I regret not seeing that bastard Vido betray me all those years ago. We ran the Blue suns for twenty years together and then he and six of _my _most trusted men hold me down while he puts a bullet in my head," he said the last part while patting the side of his face with the synthetic eye. "Damn bloody glad we fried that son of a bitch." Zaeed downed half of the Ryncol before spitting the last half out and clutching at his throat as if he'd been poisoned.

"The hell you make that shit with shaved glass?" Zaeed sputtered as he tried to clear his throat with bourbon. Wrex only shrugged. "That's Ryncol for you, there's a reason that it's mostly Krogan who drink the stuff." While Zaeed continued to get over his cough everyone's attention was turned to Kaidan who now looked nervously at the drink in his hand.

"What my turn?" he asked. "Lemme think… My biggest regret was never finding out what happened to my friend Rahna."

"The girl from the… the brain camp?" Shepard asked hazily.

"Yup. I' tried to find her a while back but no luck," Kaidan looked worriedly to the bottle of Ryncol and brought it hesitantly to his lips. Not drinking nearly as much as Zaeed had he found himself choking on the ground after only a mouthful. Seeing the effects on the non Krogan of the group Feron and Auron dumped out their bottles of Ryncol deciding that they liked being able to breathe in air. Grunt had already swallowed all of his Ryncol along with the majority of Kaidan's.

"You're supposed to wait your turn Pyjack!" Wrex roared.

"Why? I've only been awake for 3 years, what the hell do I have to regret?" Seeing this as a decent answer Wrex skipped the two who chose to waist their Ryncol and looked over to Shepard.

"Your turn Shepard, what do you regret?" Shepard looked down at the drink in his hand and thought long and hard, thinking of his life and everything he had gone through. For him, it was the obvious answer.

"I regret nothing,"

"Bullshit," Zaeed called out, finally recovered from the Ryncol.

"No really. My life, let's face it, pretty much sucked. But through the process I met all of you guys, and I met Liara, and because of that I've had a great life since meeting you all." Looking down at the Ryncol in his hands Shepard surprised them all by downing the entire drink in one go. After shaking his head in pain he yelled out as Wrex had, "KARBOL!" Everyone watched him for a few moments before Wrex and Grunt shouted out in joy.

"HAH, your more Krogan than half of our race Shepard," Wrex complimented. Shepard couldn't help but smile as he looked at the still impressive pile of alcohol left including two nearly full barrels of Ryncol.

"Come on; is this my bachelor party or what? Let's get shit faced!" It was the most fun night most of them wouldn't remember. The two days they were out in the desert they drank through all the alcohol they had brought and partied harder than any had ever partied before, they even managed to fire off a few shots when a wild pack of Varren tried to sneak up on them. By the end of that encounter the group had several roasting Varren over the fire and were spitting out bullets as they dug into the meat. Out of all of them thankfully Auron and Feron remained _somewhat_ sober and were able to drive the Makos back to the space port. One thing they all learned that the only thing scarier than a hung-over Krogan was a hung-over Zaeed, who shot at several groups of Krogan who were 'breathing to god damn loud'. As they piled onto Garrus's ship they all went straight to a bed and laid down, hoping to sleep off this horrible hangover.

"Why did I let you talk me into drinking half a barrel of Ryncol," Shepard complained to Wrex from his cot.

"Shepard, shut up please. I have a bullet wound sized headache and your voice is killing me right now."

"Your voice isn't much better old man," Grunt complained from several cots away. Zaeed, whom had drank the most, was dazed and disoriented from their endeavor and seemed to be hallucinating.

"Batarians, Batarians everywhere! Jessie, blast the four eyed bastards- ow my head, they got me good." Kaidan had boarded the Normandy and promised to see them all at Shepard's wedding. As the group lay dying on their cots Shepard only hoped that his headache would go away before the wedding ceremony.

AN: Hey sorry this chapter was a little late, I went to Cedar Point and forgot to post the chapter : P my bad. Thanks for reading and please review, you all know I live for those and I'll have the next chapter posted ASAP. So until then


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 16: A Past Long Forgotten

Three days before the wedding Auron walked into the house with a passed out Shepard on his shoulder. When Liara first saw them her first instinct was that Shepard was badly wounded, and she rushed immediately over to his side. Upon entering a three foot radius of the men she smelt the disgusting stench of alcohol emanating from the two of them.

"Goddess," Liara cried as she covered her nose to try and block out the smell. Auron couldn't help but chuckle at Liara's reaction.

"Well don't look at me, I showered before going to Tuchanka," he said as he dropped Shepard none to gently onto the couch.

"How much did he drink?" Liara asked while maintaining a respectable distance from her passed out fiancé.

"I don't know for sure but I'm fairly certain at least three bottles of whiskey, two bottles of bourbon and half a barrel of Ryncol spread out over the course of two days."

"Half a barrel?" Liara yelled out in shock. "How is he still alive? That much Ryncol is enough to nearly kill a Krogan!" Auron laughed again while taking off his rank smelling jacket and putting it on the couch beside Shepard, leaving him in only a gray vest and his pants.

"Your right! Wrex and Grunt are in the same condition as he is right now. Thankfully there at their hotel rooms."

"Why aren't you hung over?" Liara asked the elderly Salarian.

"Quickened metabolism; Salarians get over being drunk fast and go through our hangovers even faster. I was feeling better before we made it into Asari space."

"How long will John be like this for?" Liara asked worriedly. Auron pondered her question before answering.

"I'd give him about a day and a half of sleep and he'll awaken with a killer headache, I'm sure he'll be fine for the wedding." Unable to tolerate the smell any longer Liara lifted Shepard up using her biotics and floated him in the direction of the bathroom. When noticing Auron's confused look she said simply,

"He may be ready for the wedding but there's no way any of us will be able to handle his stink for two days." Auron chuckled as Liara brought Shepard into their bathroom which was connected to their bedroom. After Liara gently lowered her husband into their shower she began to take off his dirt covered, alcohol reeking clothes off; Liara sneered in disgust as she removed his clothes and made a mental note to have the outfit burned. No amount of cleaning would ever truly get the smell out. Once Shepard was stripped out of his clothes Liara turned on the shower to blast him with a blast of luke warm water, where she took a dampened rag with soap and began scrubbing vigorously all over his body. _I hope you're grateful for this Shepard,_ Liara thought to herself as she cleaned her fiancé. After about an hour of scrubbing Liara was finally satisfied and took Shepard out of the shower and quickly dried him off, once she was finished she put Shepard into his robe and then gently levitated him onto their bed. As Liara walked out of the bedroom she immediately heard the sound of a piano being played on the roof. Shaking her head with a small smile she climbed the stairs and crawled through the window to approach Auron playing an unfamiliar tune on the piano.

"You didn't waste any time did you?" she asked teasingly. Auron laughed as he continued to play his song.

"I always loved this instrument, I heard a human play it when I was young and fell in love with it. I've been playing ever since."

"How old were you?" Liara asked.

"Oh about 3 or 4, I took a beginners music class early on in my studies and continued to practice throughout my years of study. It's the one thing from my past that I don't have to hide."

"It always astounded me how much the Salarian race could get done in so little time; I used to think they were all workaholics. No offense."

"None taken, most of my kind our anyways. When you only have 40 years to live," Auron stopped playing the piano and looked up at the night sky. At first Liara thought something was wrong from his sudden silence but when he turned around to face her there was a small, friendly smile on his face.

"I guess we all just want to make a name for ourselves, something for us to be remembered for." He turned around again and began playing the piano again, this time a different song that was also unknown to Liara. She slowly walked up to Auron and took a seat at the bench besides him, he didn't mind immediately scooting over to make room for her but never stopping in his performance. Liara listened to the song silently for a few moments, hoping to speak up when Auron paused, but after a few moments she decided to speak up.

"Auron would you mind telling me something about yourself?" She asked curiously. Auron's eyes moved to look at Liara, he continued to play his song as he answered but he seemed to take on a defensive posture as he spoke.

"Well that all depends on what it is you want to know," he said evasively.

"Well it's just that John holds you in high regard and I'd like to get to know you a little better, try to see the reason for it."

"Very well. But first, why don't you tell me what Johnny told you about me. I wouldn't want to contradict anything that he may have said." Liara looked at the Salarian curiously, surprised by his sudden defensiveness.

"All he told me was that you were his tutor on Mindoir for several years after leaving the STG. You went AWOL and have been hiding from them ever since." A small smile formed at the corner of Auron's moth as he continued to play his tune with a faster tempo.

"That's all there really is to me Liara, not much else to tell."

"But what about before you left STG or why for that matter?" Liara asked. Maelon continued playing in silence for several seconds before looking to Liara and saying randomly, "Are you familiar with Winnie the Pooh?"

"Pardon?" Liara asked in confusion.

"Winnie the Pooh. It's a human book that was written in the 1920's, it was actually a part of a series and manifested into a number of television shows and movies for centuries to come." Auron explained.

"That's very interesting but what does that-"

"And there was a song," Auron interrupted. "In one of the books that I always enjoyed, would you like to hear it?" Without waiting for Liara to reply Auron picked up the tempo of his song and began to sing it in a surprisingly deep and melodic voice for a Salarian.

"_Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie, A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly. Ask me a riddle and I reply Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie._

_Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie, A fish can't whistle and neither can I. Ask me a riddle and I reply Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie._

_Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie, Why does a chicken? I don't know why. Ask me a riddle and I reply Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie."_

As Auron finished the song Liara got the strange feeling that Auron was trying to hide something from her, not to be mean but simply because his past was private. Liara decided to leave it as is and to allow Auron to tell her, if he desired to open up to her when he was ready.

"That was a beautiful song Auron," Liara complimented.

"Thank you," he replied appreciatively. "I always believed that humans, while maybe not the brightest of species, made some of the greatest music in the galaxy."

"I agree," Liara said as they sat in silence. After a few moments Liara began playing the only song she knew on the piano. Auron watched her play never saying a word as he watched her play. Once she finished a few bars she stopped playing and looked over towards Auron.

"An old friend of mine taught me that song; it's the only one I ever had time to learn."

"It was very nice," Auron complimented before gesturing to the piano. "May I?" he asked, as Liara nodded her consent. In a matter of seconds Auron was playing the song Liara just had flawlessly, easily as well as Glyph had played it those months ago back in Anderson's apartment. Liara was quite impressed with Auron's skill to apparently play a song perfectly after only hearing it for a few short moments. When he finished Liara stood up and stretched out her back and made to return to the house.

"Well this was a pleasant talk Auron, but I think I'm going to head to bed."

"Good night Liara, I'll see you in the morning." Auron said cheerily as he turned back to the piano. As Liara walked down the stairs back into the house she turned her head reflexively towards her terminal. She felt a rush go through her body as she eyed the terminal addictively; this was one of the more burdening things about being the Shadow Broker: having access to just about every bit of information in the galaxy at the tip of her fingertips. She bit her lip in thought as she sighed and walked away from her terminal. If she were to look into Auron's past with her networks she would feel awful about it and feel that, in a way, that she would betray Shepard. She walked into the bedroom she shared with Shepard and lied down on the bed besides Shepard. She placed her hand in his and squeezed it gently, hoping that him being there would prevent her from doing something she'd regret. As she lay their silently she was surprised when Shepard rolled closer to her and wrapped a protective arm around her waist. His eyes began to flicker open and he immediately groaned from that minor effort.

"I feel like I got shot by a Reaper," Shepard moaned painfully.

"That's what happens when you drink half a barrel of Ryncol," Liara said teasingly. Shepard brushed his lips against hers gently, which seemed to be all he was capable of before laying his head back down on the bed moaning in pain.

"How do Krogan drink this stuff? Everything hurts," he cried as he stared at the ceiling.

"Well do to Krogans having double the amount of organs that humans do they have a much higher tolerance for food or drink that could be hazardous or painful to other species, thus enabling them to drink Ryncol with only minor symptoms," Liara explained.

"Wrex chugged an entire barrel of Ryncol in one go before wrestling with a Varren pack. I don't care how many extra kidneys or livers you have but that's gotta hurt." Liara laughed as she laid besides her suffering bond mate, she knew that he wouldn't be able to make any big movements for at least a day but she hoped he'd be recovered in time for their wedding in a few days.

"Shepard, can I ask you something?" she found herself asking him.

"As long as it doesn't involve moving," Shepard said morbidly.

"Why do you hold Auron in such high regard? I tried asking him about his past a while ago but he avoided the question by singing a song instead."

"Cottleston Pie?" Shepard asked knowingly.

"How did you know?" Liara asked. Shepard chuckled weakly as he slowly and gently tried to prop himself up on his shoulders. "He always sang that song to me when I asked him about his past to, he gave me a brief explanation when Garrus and I found him on Mindoir but other than that I still don't know all that much about him."

"And that doesn't bother you?" Liara asked.

"Not really," Shepard admitted. "Back on Mindoir my family was pretty isolated, 10 miles away from the nearest town so we really only had one another to talk to. Of course my parents kept me working in the fields most of the time while they spent time with Jaclyn, so it was pretty lonely out there. For most of my life I was alone."

"And then Auron came?" Liara asked. Shepard nodded.

"When my father brought him up when I was about 14 he told me I was to do as he said and to be respectful because he was to be my tutor. It was the first time I had ever met an alien and I was kind of pissed off that someone my age would be tutoring me."

"What made you accept him?" she asked curiously.

"He showed me that there are beautiful things everywhere in the galaxy. Simple everyday things could signify beautiful things, his obsession with music for example. I could see him jamming at Woodstock if he was human."

"Jamming what?" Liara asked in confusion.

"Never mind not important. The point is that Auron taught me that there's more to life than work and chores; that there were things to be grateful for the simple things in life. I'd like to think that his teachings helped to make me into the man I am today; him and Anderson anyways." Liara yawned as she rested her head gently on Shepard's chest.

"I only wish I could get to know him a little better," Liara admitted sleepily. Shepard kissed her head gently as he wrapped one arm around her waist while the other one was used as her pillow.

"You will Liara, I'm sure you will,"

Auron, having abandoned his usual post on the roof with his piano was now sitting at the kitchen table with a hand sized holo communicator sitting in front of him on the table; coming from the small circle was the miniature hologram of a Turian with whitish blue markings on his face.

"_Mr. Bournemouth it gladdens me to hear from you; to be honest due to your lack of contact many have tried to purchase your stocks in Binary Helix and ERCS (_Elanus Risk Control Services_) due to the inactivity in your accounts and the rumors of your death."_

"And I trust that I am still in ownership of my shares correct Administer Qui'in?" Auron asked in a friendly yet blunt tone.

"_Of course, and please, call me Lorik. I'm not as up tight as the former Administer, Anoleis,"_

"And I am grateful for that. Anoleis had been embezzling credits from me for years, if it wasn't that I heard he'd been arrested I'd have gone to Noveria to end him myself," Auron said plainly.

"_Which is understandable,"_ Lorik Qui'in said pleasantly. "_He upset many parties in his time in office."_

"Yes well pleasantries aside Lorik, did you receive the instructions I sent you?"

"_Yes indeed, due to the… snafu we had several years ago due to the rouge Specter Saren we were finally able to finalize your purchase of the available stock in Binary Helix. Counting the added shares you now own 78% of the company and the power to do as you see fit with it."_

"And my shares in ERCS?" Auron asked.

"_Our records show that you own only 35% of the stocks in that company Mr. Bournemouth, were you interested in purchasing more of its stock for your arrangements?" _Lorik asked.

"No that'll be fine, have the papers been written up? I'd like to get this out of the way while I'm still able."

"_Yes all I need is for you to sign your name on the holo pad and I will sign it as well as the witness,"_ Auron grabbed an electric pen from his vest pocket and wrote his name on the pad quickly. As he finished and Lorik nodded at the name the Turian looked towards Auron with a questionable expression.

"_If you don't mind me asking Mr. Bournemouth, you having me write up the majority of your assets in your will, have you gotten your… warning yet?" _Lorik asked the last bit in a gentle tone.

"No not yet," Auron said simply. "But I'm assuming that I don't have much time left anyways so I wanted to get the majority of my assets prepared in the event of my sudden demise."

"_Understandable,_" Lorik said. "_So just so I'm clear on the paper work you are leaving behind these assets to the unlisted beneficiary: Your stock in Binary Helix, 78% of the business which is worth approximately 6.8 billion credits, your stock in ECRS, 35% worth approximately 73 million credits along with all future revenue made from the businesses along with money already saved in your accounts which currently holds 379 million credits, is that correct?"_ Auron could have sworn he thought he saw drool coming from the corner of Lorik's mouth as he spoke the figures but ignoredthe Turian's greedy look and nodded in agreement that the will was correct.

"_And who am I listing as the beneficiary? A relative of yours?"_

"Close enough to one," Auron said with a small smile. "My beneficiary is to be listed as John Michael Shepard."

AN: Damn Auron's loaded! I know I said he invested his original 30 million credits but that is a BEAUTIFUL cash return XD. Please review, you all know I love those and I'll have the next chapter up ASAP which will finally have the event we've all been waiting for: The Wedding, so until then.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 17: The Big Day

The day had finally arrived; in a matter of minutes Shepard and Liara would finally, in the eyes of the Asari government, officially be recognized as bond mates. It also legally bound them in the human fashion but it was mostly the Asari Matriarchs that they were worried about appeasing. They had decided that unless the Citadel was eventually repaired and deemed livable they would live on Thessia exclusively. The Matriarchs were at first reluctant to approve of the bonding ceremony due to Liara still being in the Maiden stage of her life cycles, fortunately for them they had Sha'ira the Consort on their side as the observing Matriarch. She was very well respected and revered in most planets and colonies in Asari and Citadel space and few were willing to displease her. It was also pointed out by Aethyta that if the man who defeated the Reapers wanted to marry an Asari then they'd be "Total Fucking Crazy" not to permit it. Thankfully the Matriarchs approved of the bonding ceremony and nothing was hampered by the minor setback.

During the rehearsal for the ceremony Shepard was very surprised to see that except for a few symbolizing details the ceremony was very similar to a marriage between two humans. When Shepard asked why Liara explained saying that since Asari were encouraged to mate with species outside of their own the bonding ceremony would normally revolve around the Asari's bond mate's culture. Immensely relieved that he wouldn't have to worry about insulting the Asari in some way during the ceremony the only thing Shepard had to truly worry about was writing his vows to Liara. One of the few things that Shepard had to worry about for the Asari part of his wedding was choosing his panel of what would simply be described as groomsmen to stand by him and for someone to sand for him at the wedding. He had originally wanted Auron to stand for him at the wedding but unfortunately the Matriarchs insisted that he pick someone significantly older than him, so he chose Wrex who agreed happily to stand for him at the wedding.

The men he chose as his groomsmen were: Garrus, Kaidan, and Grunt, Auron had insisted that it would be better for him to sit in the pews instead of being a groomsman and wouldn't allow Shepard to change his mind. He had tried calling Joker to see if he would stand with him but the pilot had avoided all contact with him since their final mission together. Liara was responsible for picking people to stand for her as well. She chose Aethyta to stand for her which was the obvious choice being her only parent left and had Tali, Korra and Forla representing what Shepard simply called Bridesmaids. Following the human tradition Liara insisted that they sleep in separate locations the night before their wedding, so Shepard went to bunk with Garrus in his hotel room. That night was the longest night the two had ever gone through since they were reunited after defeating the Shadow Broker. Liara lied in bed staring at ceiling, beginning to regret not having Shepard next to her. The bed was massive and she felt like she was entirely alone in it. She was reminded however by the quiet sounds of a piano playing above her. She recognized the song as one that was played at human weddings and she fidgeted uncomfortably. Finally she found herself putting on her robe and walking up to the roof. As she approached Auron ceased playing and turned around frowning at hearing Liara approach.

"Liara what are you doing up? You should be asleep; you have a big day tomorrow."

"I can't sleep," Liara admitted as she sat next to Auron at the piano. "I can't explain it but I feel…"

"Getting cold feet?" Auron asked worriedly?"

"What does the temperature of my feet have to do with anything?" Liara asked. Auron laughed as he shook his head. "Nothing, it means are you having second thoughts about marrying Johnny?"

"No!" Liara nearly shouted standing up from the stool and looking down at Auron. "John is the most important thing in the world to me, marrying him is something I've never been more positive about in my life!" Auron sighed in relief as he released a nervous chuckle and continued playing his music.

"Good, because I'd hate to explain to Shepard how you mysteriously ran away while I was in the house," Auron teased, patting the seat next to him and gesturing for Liara to sit beside him.

"Does he really think I'd do that?" Liara asked as she took her seat next to Auron. Auron chuckled lightly again as he shook his head. "I'm sure he knows you'd never leave him at the altar but everyone is afraid that their future mate won't go to the wedding. Its pre marriage jitters so I'm told."

"Do you have someone Auron? Someone special like with me and Shepard?" Auron stopped playing the piano for a moment and Liara saw a hurt look on Auron's face. He began to play a melody that Liara recognized as 'Cottleston Pie' and when she assumed he was going to sing to avoid the question he stopped playing.

"Salarians don't mate the ways that other species do, not for love anyways. Females in the Salarian race are treated like royalty due to their being few in every cluster of eggs. Those females become the Dalatrasses of their clans. The fathers of those daughters then work on arranging a mating contract for their daughter within minutes of their birth, it's the most power most men have in our female's lives. The marriages are arranged so that the next clutch of eggs will hatch to be perfect and stronger than the last, so only the best of the males are allowed into a mating contract."

"And you weren't allowed to?" Liara asked sadly. Auron shook his head as he gestured to his glasses.

"The fact that I need glasses shows that genetically I have poor eye sight; that immediately threw me out of the running to ever marrying another Salarian. If that wasn't enough I have an irregular and unappealing skin tone," he said this while gesturing to his brown blotched skin. "So there's another point against me." Liara put her hand on Auron's and said meaningfully,

"I'm sorry," Auron smiled at Liara and continued playing the wedding song.

"It's nothing I didn't expect. Plus on the bright side if I had gotten into a mating contract I'd have never met Johnny. That beats a woman every day of the week by a long shot." Liara smiled.

"You love him don't you?" Liara asked. The old Salarian nodded and looked up at the stars with a smile.

"I remember when I first went to Mindoir I only planned to hide out there until STG was off my trail, I had planned to head to Illium after that and live off the money I took from them; but there was something about him that made me want to stay."

"What do you mean?" Liara asked curiously.

"Well it was obvious to anyone who paid attention that Johnny's parents cared little for him, his sister Jaclyn was the only positive influence in the house and she was almost always away for schooling. I always wondered why he put up with it all, why he didn't just run away, and you know what he said when I asked him?"

"What?" Liara asked.

"'If I ran away then I truly would be alone and forgotten.' " Auron shook his head and looked back at Liara. "He preferred living with people who barely acknowledged his existence knowing that if he left they wouldn't look for him. They probably would have been grateful that he was gone; but it was _his _family, even if it wasn't the greatest. I stayed because that day Johnny made me cry for the first time since I was a child, I decided then and there that I was going to stay on permanently and forget about Illium and stay and be the friend that he needed; and I don't regret a day of it." Liara looked at Auron for a moment before smiling; she then got up from her seat and kissed the old Salarian gently on the cheek.

"Thank you," Liara said simply.

"For what?" Auron asked confused as he touched the spot Liara had kissed him.

"For helping John. I can't imagine how hard his life must have been back on Mindoir, but for choosing to stay and make life easier on him I'm eternally grateful." As she walked back towards the stairs leading inside the house she looked over her shoulder and said appreciatingly,

"Thanks for the talk Auron, I feel better now." Still feeling dazed by the small kiss Auron smiled and said as she left-

"Happy to help,"

_Shepard_

"So Shepard it's your final night as a single man, how do you feel?" Garrus asked as he drank from a bottle of dextro beer. Shepard smiled as he drank from his own beer and said simply,

"I'm glad it's finally happening. I was never any good at being single."

"It must be the dancing, you scare anyone away who might have found you attractive," the two friends laughed as they continued to drink on the balcony of Garrus's hotel room.

"Honestly though," Shepard started giving him Garrus's attention, "I'm still finding it hard to believe that it's happening. I mean, I never expected that _I_ would ever marry a beautiful woman like Liara,"

"Well Shepard I think it's a good thing you are marrying Liara, otherwise a horde of horny human women would be banging at your door yelling, 'I want to have your babies Commander'" Shepard did a spit take with his beer causing Garrus to laugh at his friends discomfort. Once Shepard had recovered from choking on his drink Garrus held out his bottle to him and said sincerely,

"But in all seriousness Shepard, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks Garrus," Shepard said as they clinked their two bottles together. As the two sat in silence for a few moments Garrus spoke up.

"So I guess naming one of your kids after me is out of the question?" Shepard laughed as he drank from his beer.

"Afraid so, unless something miraculous happens and we have a _boy_ Asari child." Garrus shrugged as he took another drink and threw the now empty bottle into the night.

"Stranger things have happened," Garrus said as they heard the bottle break seconds later.

"Don't remind me," Shepard sighed as he got up and stretched his back. "Well I should be getting to sleep Garrus, big day tomorrow and what not." Garrus bid his friend a good night as Shepard approached the small bed Garrus had gotten from the hotel staff to get for him. As he got into the bed he closed his eyes and wished that Liara was lying beside him that night.

_The entire planet of Thessia had been burned to the ground. Homes and people attacked out of nowhere as the Reapers suddenly appeared and opened fire on the planet. Shepard, who was strangely unarmed, was held up to the wall by several Cannibals who kept trying to get their teeth into him and change him into fleshy plating. Suddenly he saw Liara and Auron running towards him, neither of them were armed and they seemed to be getting chased by Husks. As it looked like they would be able to get away Harbinger appeared and crushed their house, his eye began to glow violently as a blast of incredible power. Not giving them even a chance to escape the blast hit them both, engulfing them both in the blast._

"_NOOO! Shepard yelled in a panic. He vaulted over the Cannibals and rushed over to where Harbinger had struck; there he saw a dead Auron and a gasping Liara reaching for the sky. He rushed to Liara and grabbed the raised hand, speaking with a trembling voice Shepard looked down at his bond mate and spoke panicked words._

"_It's alright Liara I- we'll go get help, they'll patch you up and everything will be ok. Liara, don't leave me Liara!" Liara looked towards Shepard, gasping for air as she closed her eyes momentarily. When she opened them her arm shot out of his grasp and grabbed him by the neck squeezing harder than Shepard thought possible, he looked at her eyes and saw they were pitch black._

"_**YOUR DEMISE IS IMMINENT, ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL,**__"_

"_NOOOO!"_

Shepard shot up in a sweat breathing heavily. He looked around the room to find himself back at Garrus's hotel room. The Turian was still fast asleep in his head muttering something about decontaminating a carpet. Shepard turned to the clock on the wall and saw that it was approximately 4:30 A.M. by Thessia time (which has approximately 27.6 Earth hours in a day).__Shepard activated his Omni-tool and called Auron, when the Salarian appeared on the vid screen Shepard sighed in obvious relief.

"Auron thank god your there,"

"Everything ok Johnny? You look a bit shaken up."

"Never mind that, Liara. Is she there, is she alright?"

"Of course Johnny she's fine! What's gotten into you?" Shepard closed his eyes and raised his free hand to massage his temples.

"I had a nightmare and it was, well it was bad." Auron stared at his former student with a frown trying to gauge the situation.

"Do you want me to get Liara for you? Maybe she could-"

"No," he interrupted immediately. "Please no, don't tell Liara about this. I don't want her to think I'm crazy."

"Johnny that statement in its self was crazy!" Auron argued stubbornly. "After everything you've gone through you're probably suffering from PTSD; (Posttraumatic stress disorder) you need to talk to someone Johnny. Bottling it up like you've been doing won't be good for your health in the long run." Shepard looked down at Auron and after a few moments finally nodded.

"You're probably right Auron, but please. For now just don't tell Liara anything, I'll tell her when I'm ready." Auron narrowed his eyes trying to detect a lie but eminently smiled and said comfortingly,

"Alright Johnny I'll keep quiet. Now you need to get some sleep, you're getting married in a few hours after all." Auron ended the call leaving Shepard alone with his thoughts, with a small smile he thought about the events that would take place in only a matter of hours and managed to convince himself to get a few more hours of sleep. Despite the nightmares he unfortunately awoke to he knew that today would be a wonderful day.

Later that day everything was getting placed into order, Liara and Feron frantically worked to insure that everything was going perfectly while Shepard helped make sure everyone acting in the wedding was calm and ready, though he was nervous himself. He had tried to see Liara several times but was turned away by her sisters insisting that he follow his own traditions. The guests began piling into the temple at approximately 1300 hours and took their assigned seats. When Shepard and his groomsmen took their waiting positions at the right side of the aisle he took the moment to see who was in the pews of the temple while the bridesmaids were taking their positions to the left of the aisle.

Like in a human marriage the seating arrangement was done by setting the separate families on opposite sides, the grooms on one side and the brides on the other with friends of both sitting farther in the back. On Liara's side of guests were a large number of Asari who he could only guess were relatives of Liara's from Aethyta's side of the family. Many of them had different raced partners among them while none seemed to have an Asari partner. Closer to the front he saw Feron in a Drell fashioned suit sitting beside Korra and Forla's bond mates. He recognized the Turian and Salarian that they were bonded to after a few moments of staring; they were the business partners he had met on the Citadel arguing how to sell a VI they had programmed during war time. After that row though Shepard didn't recognize anyone on Liara's side of the pew, and he couldn't help but wonder if Liara knew most of her arrived family either.

Shepard's side of the church was only a fraction of the size of Liara's and barely took up the front few seats. In the front row was Wrex, who would be standing for Shepard at the ceremony, and besides him was Bakara and three miniature Krogan who Shepard had to guess were Wrex's kids. When Shepard had asked if Wrex wanted to bring his children to the wedding he said he would only bring his and Bakara's children, otherwise they would have had to of brought half of Tuchanka's newborn population with them. Bakara sat with the two younger children between her and Wrex fidgeting slightly while the oldest one, Mordin, sat silently in the Krogan variation of a dress that closely resembled the Shaman outfit Bakara usually wore. Auron sat beside them giving him an assuring smile and a friendly wink causing Shepard to smile slightly against his better judgment. Besides him was a teary eyed doctor Chakwas, she wasn't crying yet but Shepard could tell that the doctor would be in tears halfway through the ceremony. Behind them sat Zaeed who appeared to be talking shot with a mesmerized James who seemingly clung to each of the old merc's words. Besides him was an uncloaked Kasumi Goto who, while appearing calm, was surveying the area nonchalantly in case she had to make an emergency exit. Behind her sat Major Kirrahe and several of his men from back on Virmire. Next to him was Primarch Victus who sat there with who Shepard assumed was his wife, besides him was another female Krogan holding a young baby Krogan in her arms. Shepard didn't know who she was but guessed that she was Grunt's mate.

Then there were members of the Normandy crew who sat beside them and which consisted of Greg Adams, Samantha Traynor and several other people who he only knew briefly. Then there was Commander Bailey who was fidgeting slightly due to him being seated next to several Spectres who thought it respectful for someone from the order to come to show support for Shepard. Jondum Bau was the only one he recognized followed by two Turians that Shepard wasn't aware of. He made sure that Kasumi knew and she nodded gratefully as she cloaked in her seat. In the back of the pews (which was still relatively close to the front on Shepard's side) sat Admiral Hackett who, for the first time in years, seemed completely at ease. He sat beside the other councilors, minus Bakara, who seemed to be whispering and complaining about something. Between the four of them Hackett was the only one smiling and not seemingly talking about work. To Shepard's surprise though an entire platoon of Alliance shoulders stood to the side of the pews away from the aisle and stood in salute, when Shepard stared at Hackett with a questioning look the older Admiral simply smiled and shrugged innocently. Finally the music started: everyone turned and rose from their seats to see Liara walking down the aisle arm in arm with her father. Shepard nearly dropped his jaw at seeing the dress that Liara was in: it was a traditional white dress that had very few frills and ruffles, to most people it would seem simple but Shepard knew that Liara would think it border line outlandish. The dress was strapless and seemed to hug her body perfectly as she walked down the aisle towards the altar. She wore a simple veil that covered her face as she walked but Shepard had the feeling that she was at least slightly trembling, as was he, at the event that was about to take place.

As the father and daughter reached the altar Aethyta put her daughter's hands into one of Shepard's and took a step back to stand behind Liara. At that moment Wrex silently stood up and stood next to Aethyta several steps behind Shepard. As the music continued to play Sha'ira the consort walked in from behind the altar in a surprisingly subtle black dress as she carried in her arms an ancient looking text that she gently placed it on the altar as she waited for the music to stop. Once the music stopped she smiled and said to those in the temple,

"Please be seated," Once everyone in the temple besides those standing in the front had taken their seat Sha'ira gently opened the text and looked out towards those in the chapel.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the Temple of Athame, and in the face of this company, to join together this Man and this Woman as bond mates; which is an honorable estate, instituted of Athame, signifying unto us the mystical union that is held by those meant for one another: As Athame and her acolytes Janiri and Lucen taught us the ways to advance and strengthen ourselves they also in part taught us the love that we may hold with others outside our species: and therefore it is not by any to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of Athame. Into this holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined. If any can show just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let them now speak, or else hereafter forever hold their peace."

As the room was silent Sha'ira smiled and looked back to her text to continue the ceremony.

"As has it been since the beginning of our time we turn to the elders of our life to decide whether or not those wishing to take part in the act of bonding are ready for such a commitment and will not take upon it lightly." Sha'ira turned to look at Wrex and Aethyta and addressed them for their part of the ceremony.

"Matriarch Aethyta, father of Liara T'soni and wise elder of the Asari people, do you believe your child to be ready for the commitment that is the bonding with John Shepard?"

"I do," she said in a raspy tone while moisture slowly formed at her eyes.

"Will you insure that your child will for all intent remain a loyal, loving partner to him and to punish her if she falters?"

"I will,"

"You may be seated," As Aethyta took her seat in the front pew Sha'ira looked over to Wrex.

"Urdnot Wrex, close friend of John Shepard and ruling Warlord of the Krogan race, do you believe your friend to be ready for the commitment that is the bonding with Liara T'soni?"

"Definitely," Wrex said calmly not betraying any sign of emotion.

"Will you insure that your friend will for all intent remain a loyal, loving partner to her and to punish him if he falters?"

"I will,"

"You may be seated," Wrex returned to his seat beside Bakara as Sha'ira raised her hands and began to glow due to activating her biotics.

"We shall now bind these two by their words as one done in the time of old as they swear to have one another for the rest of their lives and no other as long as they are together." Sha'ira released a tremendous amount of biotic energy from her hands that circled the entire room before beginning to surround Shepard and Liara. As it circled the room every Asari in the room began to glow blue as their biotics activated on their own accord and began to flow with the blast that Sha'ira had made. It wasn't only the Asari however: Wrex, Kaidan, one of the Turian Spectres and several soldiers standing in the Alliance honor stand began to glow blue as biotic power streamed from their bodies surrounding Shepard and Liara. Liara also glowed slightly due to all the biotic energy in the air and, to everyone's tremendous surprise (including his), Shepard glowed a dim green color. Liara's eyes widened slightly in surprise but said nothing as Sha'ira continued speaking seeming unsurprised by Shepard's glow.

"Once bonded, the power entrusted by me and the others in the room will bind the vows that you to will swear to one another. John Shepard, why should Liara T'soni choose to allow you to be her bond mate?" Shepard took Liara's other hand into his as he looked into her beautiful azure eyes as he spoke.

"For most of my life I never thought that I would meet anyone who would have any interest in me or any reason to love me; but the moment that I met you all those years ago that all changed. Since we met you have made me a stronger person and have given me a reason to look forward to the next day in my life. I want to have that feeling every day for the rest of my life with you at my side." Liara smiled as tears of happiness began to form at her eyes as he returned the loving smile and squeezed her hands affectionately. Sha'ira then turned to Liara and repeated the question to her.

"Liara T'soni, why should John Shepard choose to allow you to be his bond mate?" Liara looked back to Shepard as the tears began to fall from her eyes as she spoke in a calm and collected tone.

"My whole life I was always looked at as the odd one, choosing to spend my maiden years digging in ruins instead of going out and joining a mercenary group. Since others seemed to shun me away I was content to remain isolated and stay in my ruins looking for information on the past; but when you saved me on Therum, and gave me the chance to see my mother again before her death, I knew that there was someone out there who cared about me for me and not for my place in the galaxy due to who my mother was. You made me feel loved and accepted, and now I realize that's what I've always wanted in my life." Shepard smiled as he resisted the urge to embrace Liara right there and then. They continued to look into one another's eyes as Sha'ira said the final words in the process.

"John, do you accept Liara T'soni to be your bond mate, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish her friendship and love her today, tomorrow and forever? Will you trust and honor her, laugh with her and cry with her? Will you be faithful through good times and bad, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," he said immediately."

"Liara, do you accept John Shepard to be your bond mate, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish his friendship and love him today, tomorrow and forever? Will you trust and honor him, laugh with her and cry with him? Will you be faithful through good times and bad, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Liara answered immediately through tears and a finally cracking voice. As Sha'ira finished the final part of her speech Shepard raised the veil over Liara's face showing him the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in all of his life.

"By the power trusted to me by the Goddess Athame and the Matriarchs of Thessia, I hereby announce you bond mates, partners and Husband and Wife. You may kiss the bride.

They didn't need her to tell them twice.

Liara and Shepard leapt into each other's embrace and kissed each other with more heat and passion they ever thought imaginable. As the music played and they continued to kiss the crowd in the church began to cheer and celebrate as the biotic energy that had been surrounding them went off. The biotic power in the air started to give out giving the display of biotic fireworks as the couple kissed in their embrace. It seemed like a life time had passed when Liara and Shepard finally separated and the crowd still continued to cheer as they looked lovingly into each other's eyes.

"I love you Liara T'soni,"

"I love you John Shepard,"

As the couple walked down the aisle the looked at the cheering people in the pews as they passed. Tears of joy were being shed, everyone was clapping and it seemed that Grunt had smuggled his shot gun into the Temple and let off several celebratory shots. Thankfully they were all blanks and nobody seemed to care. As they exited the temple and were about to enter the sky car to the hall they had booked Liara stopped and Shepard turned around to see her preparing to throw the bouquet. She lobbed it over her head as it landed in the middle of the group of exiting people and the single women all grabbing for it viciously. When the group disbanded it was seen that Tali was holding the bouquet in her hands. Looking at the flowers and then at Garrus who was standing right beside them the couple immediately blushed and turned away from each other unsure how to react by the human tradition.

As they made it to the hall they were immediately bombarded by their friends and family who had been invited to the reception. Shepard shook hands with all the men as Liara hugged all the women who came in who were happy for her. When Grunt and his mate approached Grunt held out a hand introducing her.

"This is Nova, my mate."

"It's an honor to meet you," Nova said with a surprising southern sounding drawl as she shook Shepard and Liara's hands with her free one.

"The honor is all ours Nova, I'm glad to see that Grunt found someone to make him happy." His eyes were finally drawn to the sleeping baby Krogan in Nova's arms. Grunt followed Shepard's gaze and smiled as he took the child from Nova's arms.

"Yup, that's my little whelp. Nova birthed him about a week ago and the little blighters already chewing on the chairs."

"He's only a week old and he's already teething?" Liara asked in surprise. "I knew that Krogan children matured quickly but it's surprising how much so." Grunt only laughed as he handed the baby over to her out stretched hands.

"Yup, soon the little whelp will be killing a thresher maw at the rights. Just like his old man."

"What did you name him?" Shepard asked.

"Shepard,"

"What?"

"No, that's what we named him. Shepard." Shepard looked down at the little Krogan in Liara's arms and found himself surprised at hearing the news.

"Seriously? You named him after me?" he asked in awe.

"Of course," Grunt said proudly. "Named after the battle master who showed me what it meant to be a Krogan, the man who cured the Genophage and the destroyer of the Reapers. Heh, the whelps gonna have a lot to live up to when he's older." Liara handed the young Shepard to her bond mate and he looked at him closely for the first time. The child was heavy, easily more so than any human child, but not much larger or thicker. The baby stirred in Shepard's arms as it opened its two big glowing blue eyes looking up at him. Shepard couldn't help but smile, but then frown as he looked at the child and then at Grunt and Nova.

"Grunt, the baby only has your eyes. It doesn't look like you or Nova; in fact he looks more like…"

"Okeer," Grunt said with a small growl that could be heard from the back of his throat. "I guess he must have done something while I was in the tank to make my kids look like him. Not much I can about it now." Shepard handed little Shepard back to Nova while Liara said,

"Well he's a beautiful child, you two should be very proud." As the Krogan couple left Shepard shook his head in surprise.

"I don't know why but I'm surprised that he named him after me,"

"Why not?" Liara asked curiously. "You made Grunt who he is today, you're probably the closest thing to a father he's had since you opened his tank. I think it was a wonderful idea." She leaned up to his ear and whispered in a teasing voice,

"And besides, the baby _does _look like you." Shepard laughed as they walked into the hall to see the festivities about to begin. As they proceeded one of the lead singers to the band approached the microphone and said,

"Can I get everybody's attention? It is now time for the happy couple to share their first dance as bond mates." As the couple approached the dance floor and the guests applauded Liara's face suddenly paled as she looked over to Shepard and whispered loudly,

"John, we forgot what to pick as our first song!" Shepard only chuckled as he twirled his new bond mate in a circle before placing his hand on her waist in a dancing pose.

"Not to worry, I got that taken care of." Before Liara could ask what he meant she heard a piano playing a _very _familiar song. She turned her head towards the stage to see Auron seated before the piano playing the song she and Shepard had listened to back at Anderson's apartment. Before she had any time to comment Shepard took the lead as the two danced gracefully around the dance floor. After a few moments of perfect dancing Liara couldn't help but smile.

"My my, I have to say I'm impressed. I always thought you couldn't dance," Shepard blushed as he brought Liara into a dip when he said quietly, "Well actually Garrus and I had been taking lessons before the Citadel was destroyed. Tali likes going dancing and Garrus wouldn't take the lessons by himself." Liara giggled as she was brought out of the dip and looked at Shepard expectantly.

"You didn't really take lessons," she accused in good humor.

"I did, there's no Shepard without Vakarian, even on the dance floor." Liara laughed again as the song came to an end and lead to the audience applauding. The night went on perfectly, everyone had a good time and nobody shot at anyone (which was a surprising miracle in its self), Shepard couldn't have asked for a better night. When the final song for the night was being played Aethyta approached Shepard when he was separated from Liara.

"Hey Shepard, feel like giving your father-in-law a dance?" Shepard looked towards Liara who was apparently having a similar conversation with Auron so he smiled politely and said, "Sure, let's get out there." As the final song was being played Shepard danced silently with Aethyta for a few moments. After a while the Matriarch finally spoke up.

"So you actually went through with marrying her huh?" she asked.

"Of course," Shepard said with a hard yet polite tone. "It's like I told you on the Citadel, I love your daughter."

"I can tell, and she's obviously crazy about you." As they separated for part of the dance and then came back together Aethyta brought herself in tight to Shepard's chest while she whispered in a blunt and threatening tone,

"But I swear that if you hurt her in any way you're going to regret not being killed by the Reapers, understand?"

"Perfectly," Shepard said not flinching a bit.

"Well great then, let's enjoy the dance then." On the other side of the dance floor Auron and Liara were dancing as well but having a much less threatening conversation.

"Oh this was the perfect day Auron, I don't know how it could get any better," Liara said as she danced with the old Salarian. He chuckled kindly as he twirled Liara.

"Oh I wouldn't say that, Johnny might have a few more tricks up his sleeve before the night is over."

"Why what do you know?" Liara asked curiously. Auron just laughed as they continued their dance. When the final song was finished the mismatched couples separated and went to say their goodbyes to the leaving guests. Everyone was returning to their home planets or jobs, especially Shepard's close friends who had been on Thessia helping with random things or the Bachelor party. As the final guest left Shepard led Liara to a sky car that was waiting for them.

"Where are we going?" Liara asked curiously.

"The car will take us straight to the port for the honeymoon; your sisters already packed your bags and put them on the ship."

"So I'm supposed to board a transport ship in my wedding dress?" Liara questioned. Shepard looked down at his bond mate as they entered the car and said in a suggestive tone,

"Well, you could always take the dress _off_," With an embarrassed smile Liara slapped his chest in mock anger as he pulled her in for a warm and passionate kiss. They remained like that for most of the ride until Shepard pulled away and rested his forehead atop of hers.

"I guess we should start making plans huh?"

"Plans for what?" Liara asked.

"For the rest of our lives."

AN: I hope you guys liked the story, It took me awhile to figure out how to throw the wedding but I think this handled it pretty well. Please leave a review you all now I love those and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next one will be released ASAP so until then.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 18: Planning for what?

The flight to Kahje wasn't a very long one but regardless Shepard and Liara spent the duration of the flight in their private room doing… couple activities. True to his word Shepard had instructed their driver to take them directly to the port where they boarded one of the new Quarian public transit ships. With the majority of their new fleet made up of Geth dreadnaughts the Quarians used the majority of their ships from the former Civilian Fleet as transit ships which they would use for either public or private transportation. Tali had managed to pull a few strings for the newly bonded couple to get a ride on one of the nicer ships. When they had arrived at the dock they were lead to the Quarian vessel _Tonbay, _where they were met by the captain upon boarding the ship and lead to one of the best rooms on the ship. No longer needing to rely on the ships to live on or to maintain their health, the ship was outfitted to be more comfortable for its passengers. As the couple was lead to their room (still in their wedding attire mind you) they saw few Quarians actually working on the ship and only one or to Geth soldier platforms. Shepard leaned towards the captain, gaining his attention, and asked in a hushed tone,

"Captain if you don't mind me asking, how many Quarians and Geth are there to fly the ship?" The Captain chuckled as they walked down the hallways of the newly refurbished spacecraft.

"We don't necessarily need pilots any more, the ship literally flies itself."

"How did you manage that?" Liara asked curiously. The Captain looked around to be sure there weren't any passengers around as he slowed his pace to stand directly between the couple.

"We don't tell regular passengers this due to any old grudges they may still hold with the Geth, but we've got several miniature Geth server hubs hooked up to the ship. The Geth programs are flying the ships themselves, like an advanced type of auto pilot. The only reason there needs to be any Quarians on the ship is to make it look like we're running things and that repairs can be made if something goes wrong."

"Fascinating," Liara said as the Captain sped up his pace to appear natural. "And to think that you've only been working cooperatively with the Geth for less than a year." The Captain laughed again as he nodded in agreement.

"Aye your right, I'd of said some of the others were daft if I wasn't here myself; and there doing even more wonders on Rannoch. Their giving the ancestors a run for their money with all the advancements they've been making. Well here's your room." The Captain opened the door to reveal a beautiful room that looked like a deluxe sweet at a continental Bed and Breakfast.

"Now if you two need anything at all just call out to the Geth Programs in the ship and they'll respond and tend to your needs," Since then Shepard and Liara had almost no contact with anyone outside their room for the four day flight except for someone to bring in their meals every few hours, and each time it was a Geth so there was no silent worship going on when the door was opened. It could also be argued if the newlywed couple even got out of their bed the entire ride to Kahje. None the less after four days of flying in comfort the shuttle landed on Kahje, it wasn't long until Shepard and Liara had reluctantly gotten out of the bed and carried their luggage off of the ship. As they walked through the hallway of the _Tonbay_ the Quarian Captain and the few other Quarians in the halls gave them a respectful salute while the two Geth platforms got to one knee in a sign of respect. Shepard returned the salute but was pulled away by an impatient Liara who nearly dragged him off of the ship. When they exited the ship Liara froze and squinted her eyes. Before Shepard could ask what was wrong Liara smiled and said in a raised voice,

"Quoyle? Quoyle is that you?" At hearing the name a brown skinned Drell wearing a combat vest and cargo pants turned around and smiled when he saw Liara and approached the couple.

"Dr. T'soni, it is good to see you back on Kahje,"

"You two know each other?" Shepard asked surprised. Liara nodded.

"Before I contacted Admiral Hackett to work on Mars I came to the Prothean Ruins here to look for any information that could help. If it wasn't for Quoyle I would never have gotten into the ruins."

"And thanks to you I wasn't killed by a Phantom," Quoyle said with a coy smile. "So we can just call it even." Liara smiled as she gestured to Shepard behind her.

"Quoyle this is my bond mate John Shepard, were here on our honey moon."

"Ahh Shepard," Quoyle said in awe. "I've heard of you, but then again who hasn't? Ha-ha, it is an honor to meet you Admiral."

"Likewise," Shepard said shaking the Drell's hand. Once the greetings were finished Liara looked at Quoyle curiously and asked, "Quoyle you weren't waiting for us were you?"

"Ah but I was, the owner of the hotel you booked asked for me to be your guide during your stay on Kahje. I hope that I can make the celebration of your joining as magnificent as possible." So the Drell took John and Liara's bad and lead them to their hotel, they had to cross a bridge that allowed Shepard to see a part of the large, vast ocean that covered the planet; it was said that on the entire planet only 10% of it had any land. The area had a beautiful, jungle feel to it; like in one of the jungles of Africa but it was much more civilized and urbanized. As they approached their hotel there was a Hanar standing behind the desk, when it saw the couple approaching it seemed to glow in delight as it came from around the table to greet them.

"Ahh, Admiral Shepard and Liara T'soni, this one is ecstatic to meet you." The Hanar extended two of its tentacle hands towards the couple where they each hesitantly grabbed one and shook it politely.

"This one's name is Tommuloid, and is the owner of the establishment. This one requests that if anything is needed that you come to this one."

"Thank you Tommuloid, you honor us with your graciousness." Liara said in a polite tone. The Hanar glowed as it reached one of its tentacles behind the desk and pulled out a card key which he handed it fluidly to Shepard.

"Here is the key to your room Admiral, this one hopes that everything is acceptable and to your liking."

"Thank you," Shepard said simply as he followed Quoyle and Liara to the room. As they approached the room Shepard scanned the key and opened the door and froze when he saw the inside of the room.

"You're kidding me," he said in an exasperated tone. Liara frowned and moved around Shepard to see into the room and froze when she saw what was inside it.

"Goddess," she said in shock eyeing the room. To say that it was extravagant would not be enough to describe it. The single room (as they assumed it to be) was easily the size of a large condo with few walls. There was a kitchen that seemed to be fully stocked with foods acceptable to most races, a round king sized bed on the far right hand side of the room where a bathroom could be seen, a lounging are where there was a circular couch that surrounded an active fire pit and on the left side of the room was their own indoor pool/ hot tub that took up the remainder of the room. The best part of the room, that Shepard and Liara would both be able to agree upon, was the view. From where they were standing the entire wall before them gave a perfect view of nothing but ocean for miles along with one of the most beautiful sunsets they had ever seen. When Quoyle finally managed to pass the gaping couple he placed their bags at the foot of the bed before returning to the still gaping couple.

"Yes well, when you two are finished enjoying the view I will be at your call _outside _of the room. If you need any help getting around the planet or anything at all just call me on your Omni-tools yes?" When the couple just continued to stare out at the view the Drell took it upon himself to give the two some privacy. As he shut the door behind himself Liara put her hand into Shepard's; who responded by pulling her close to him and wrapping an arm around her as they continued to enjoy the view.

"I've never seen anything so… breathe taking in my life," Liara said admiringly as she rested her head on Shepard's chest.

"Funny, I can think of something far more beautiful than the view," Shepard said kindly. Liara looked up at Shepard to ask him what but when she noticed that he was looking down at her her face heated up from the intensity of her blush. She brought her lips close to his, barely a millimeter separating them, when she said in a sultry voice,

"Flatterer,"

"I try," Shepard whispered back as he pulled Liara in to him and began to kiss her passionately. She responded immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck and waist doing her best to pull him in as tight to her as possible. As they kissed Shepard surprised Liara by picking her up in his arms and held her like an infant. As she was lifted she let lose an excited giggle as he quickly brought his lips back down to hers as he slowly limped towards the bed. When they reached it Shepard through Liara onto the bed where, to both of their surprise, she sank into the bed before bouncing several inches off of the ground.

"What was that?" Shepard asked through a quick fit of laughter.

"It's a water bed!" Liara said excitedly. Shepard gave an evil smile and leapt onto the water bed besides Liara causing her to jump several more inches in the air followed by him not a few seconds later. When they became accustomed to the buoyancy of the bed Shepard pulled Liara atop of him and began kissing her passionately. Suddenly Liara stopped kissing Shepard and sat up causing Shepard to look up at her worriedly.

"What's the matter?" he asked the worry evident in his tone. Liara gave him a suggestive sexy smile as she looked down at him.

"Oh nothing's wrong; I've just decided I'm going to make you work for me?"

"Work for you?" Shepard asked snorting trying to hold back a laugh. Liara smacked his chest sternly with a half embarrassed half sultry smile.

"Yes, work for it. It is our honey moon after all and I wouldn't want you to think I'll be easy the whole time we're here."

"Oh really?" Shepard asked as he brought his arms to Liara's arms in an attempt to pull her down to him. Unfortunately she shooed him off and stood up going into her bag.

"Well what did you have in mind then?" Shepard asked in a mock defeated tone.

"Well… there is a hot tub in our room," Liara suggested while pulling out of her bag what Shepard assumed was a bathing suit. She looked over to Shepard on the bed and did her best to give a pouty look on her face.

"And my shoulders are… _oh so_ very sore," If it wasn't for the fact that Liara was doing a terrific job of turning him on he would have laughed at her for trying to pull off being pouty, fortunately for her it was working.

"I think I get what you're saying," he said as he propped himself up on his shoulders."

"Good, then put on your bathing suit and I'll meet you there," she said blowing him a kiss as she walked into the bathroom. The moment the door to the bathroom shut Shepard leapt from the bed onto the floor and did a mad army crawl towards his bag where he violently pulled out every article of clothing in his bag in search for a swim suit. Unfortunately he hadn't packed the bag himself, Liara's sisters had packed the bags for him and while the clothes for everyday use were fine their taste in human swim wear was _not_ something he approved of. In his hands he held an N7 styled speedo that Shepard had never seen in his life.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Shepard muttered under his breath as he looked at the poor excuse of a bathing suit in his hand.

"_Is everything ok?"_ Liara asked from behind the door.

"Uh, yeah! Everything's fine!" he called back to her. After a short moment of consideration Shepard threw the speedo back in the bag and progressed towards the hot tub removing his shirt and pants and preparing to enter the hot tub in his boxers. As he eased into the tub he released a sigh of pleasure as the hot water soothed his body and was relaxing his body. He turned to the controls for the jets and stared at them curiously, they were in a foreign language that Shepard couldn't read. Picking a button at random he hit one and the bubbles started to form coming up from the ground, not exactly doing much for him but gave the illusion of a bubble filled hot tub. As he heard the door open he hurriedly took a casual, suave waiting pose as he put his arms on the outside of the tub, looking like he had been waiting for a while.

"Are you ready?" Liara called gently from the bathroom.

"I am," he called back casually. When Liara walked out of the bathroom Shepard's cool and suave posture was eradicated while his jaw hit the ground at the appearance of his bond mate. As she walked out of the bathroom she was wearing a new (he assumed) violet bikini that hugged her body so perfectly that it almost could have passed for skin except for the color of it. When she approached she looked down at Shepard with a nonchalant expression and asked casually,

"Excuse me sir, is this seat taken?" When all Shepard could produce was unintelligible words (in any language) Liara smiled with a small bit of her blush showing on her face as she sat down besides Shepard in the hot tub. She immediately leaned on his chest and wrapped one of her arms around his waist. Shepard smiled and put his arm over Liara's shoulders and bringing her in close to him.

"I thought you said I'd have to work to get you?" Shepard teased.

"Shhh," Liara quieted him teasingly. "You will, but right now I want you to hold me." So for several minutes they sat in silence in each other's arms, after a while Shepard felt Liara start to fidget and he could tell that she wanted to say something.

"What is it?" Shepard asked knowingly, pulling her closer. Liara looked at Shepard and seemed hesitant as she tried to think of how to word what she wanted to say.

"I want to talk to you about something, but I'm unsure if now is the right time,"

"Everything's ok, right?" Shepard asked again worriedly.

"Of course, there's nothing wrong it's just a… unusual topic given the timing."

"Well it can't be that bad, what's up?" he asked. Liara looked at him for a minute before taking a deep breath to ready herself for the can of worms she felt she was about to open.

"During our honey moon, do you want to…" her words got caught in her mouth and Shepard had to fight a smile at his bond mate's discomfort.

"Do I want to try something new?" he suggested. Liara thought for a moment and then nodded; Shepard got a little excited at the notion of something new. They were routine lovers, and it worked for them, they knew what each other liked and they were both left happy at the end. If she wanted to try something new Shepard couldn't even imagine what it could be.

"Well what did you have in mind?" he asked amused. Sensing what he was thinking Liara blushed and hit Shepard on the chest.

"It's nothing like that Shepard, although maybe later if we're still in the mood after this talk,"

"Well what is it Liara?" Shepard asked now truly curious about Liara's suggestion. Liara took another deep breath looked Shepard in the eyes and said in a quick and rushed voice,

"Do you want to try and conceive a child?" That was not what Shepard had expected, and the look on his face must have given it away for Liara's face lit up in a blush and she immediately seemed uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't of asked." she started as she rose to get herself out of the hot tub, Shepard grabbed her arm and gently pulled her back down into the water.

"Hold on now Liara," he said calmly, "Just tell me what's going on here ok?" Liara looked at him for a moment and then nodded as she rewrapped her arms around his waist.

"Well, in Asari culture after a couple has bonded they don't wait very long before trying to have a child, in fact in most cases they try to have at least one child as soon as possible due to the mate most likely not surviving more than two years."

"I understand," Shepard assured her, gesturing her to go on.

"Well, since I completely threw the one month wedding preparation thing at you, well I didn't want you to come home one day to have me tell you that I'm pregnant and you weren't expecting it at all." The two sat in silence for a few moments as Shepard simply thought over her words and was brought back to the conversation when Liara spoke up worriedly.

"You're not angry are you?" she asked almost in a panicked tone.

"No of course not," Shepard said in an assuring voice. He gently picked her up off of her seat in the hot tub and put her in his lap where he wrapped his arms around her waist in a supportive gesture. "I could never get angry at you for asking me something like that; it just took me by surprise is all." Liara audibly sighed in relief and he could have sworn that Liara sounded close to tears when she said,

"Thank you," He kissed her on the cheek gently and held her tightly to him, as if she was his floatation device in the hot tub. If he was holding her too tightly she didn't complain, she just clutched onto his arms equally as hard.

"What do you want to do?" Shepard asked her gently.

"I'd like to have kids," she said almost immediately. "But only if we both do."

"Ok I'm gonna clear the air right now," Shepard declared as he turned Liara around she could look at him. "Before we go any further into this conversation you need to know right now Liara: I want to have children with you." Liara visibly sighed in relief again at hearing him say that.

"The only thing that's throwing me for a curve is the when part," he admitted. Liara leaned her back onto Shepard's chest as he stroked the back of her head with his fingers.

"What is it that bothers you?" Liara asked in a much calmer and relaxed tone.

"Well I don't see any need to rush into it you know? I mean I do have the life span of a Prothean, we have all the time in the world to have kids."

"Yes but come on Shepard, don't tell me you don't want to have a little girl running around the house." Shepard didn't say that, he wanted to have kids. More than anything now that he had Liara, but he always assumed there'd be more time to prepare himself for it. Thinking of his past he spoke his thoughts out loud.

"What if I don't make a good Dad? I didn't exactly have the best childhood, not even counting the Batarian raid."

"Shepard," Liara said in a supportive tone as she turned around to look at him. "While you may not have had a great relationship with your old parents you yourself are a kind, strong, and loving man. That's all any parent needs to be. And besides, I don't exactly have a lot of experience either in this department; I'm only 109." Shepard laughed.

"So young," he said sarcastically.

"Shut up," Liara said, but he could tell she was smiling. Shepard thought it over for a few minutes, stroking Liara's cartilage, when he finally said, "You sure you want to do this?"

"I do John," she said sincerely. John sighed and turned Liara around to look him in the face. With a smiled he brought his lips millimeters down to hers and said in a teasing voice, "Well I guess we better start then," They kissed passionately in their seats for a few minutes before Liara pushed him away.

"What now?" Shepard asked?

"Don't you remember John? You have to work for it remember?" Not giving him a chance to answer Liara stepped out of the hot tub and walked towards the bed. Shepard followed her and watched as she lied on the bed on her stomach. As Shepard approached from behind Liara said to him without turning around,

"My seat in the hot tub was rather lumpy; I think I need a massage to help fix my back," she didn't look back at Shepard but he knew that she was smiling. Gently sitting just a few inches above her ass and started to rub his hands slowly down her back, then he put his hands onto her shoulder blades and began massaging them gently.

"Feel good?" he asked.

"Mhm," she responded. After a few moments of silence Shepard spoke up again.

"So explain to me how Asari actually conceive children, I know it has to do with their melding but that's it."

"When Asari meld they share their minds with their partners, when they want to have kids the meld accesses their genetic information, taking information from both parents to form the child. That's why we can have children with every species; we simply take their genetic information to help produce a child,"

"And does it work every time?" he asked while pressing a spot on Liara's back he knew was sensitive. She moaned in pleasure as he worked the spot, "The melds? Do we only need to do it once and it's a sure thing?"

"The… the meld isn't guaranteed to work. It neEDs… it sometimes takes… multiple times to accomplish it."

"Are there anyways to help those odds?" Shepard asked working her back. Liara could barely hold on to herself, Shepard knew every spot that made her move and he was playing every one of them.

"W-well, being in a h-high state of ect-tasy, is known to help," Shepard smiled as gently nibbled at the back of Liara's neck.

"Then I guess it shouldn't take long then huh?"

Several hours later Liara awoke naked next to Shepard, the night before had been amazing. She had never attempted the meld to have children before and it was definitely a new sensation to experience. She looked over to Shepard and smiled at his sleeping form. She checked the clock besides their bed and saw that it was the Kahje equivalence of 3:30 A.M., looking back at Shepard she put a hand to his head and noticed by the way his eyes were moving that he was dreaming.

_I wonder what he's dreaming about,_ Liara thought to herself. She lied on her side and put her fore head to Shepard's; she closed her eyes and uttered the phrase, "_Embrace Eternity."_ When her eyes opened they were a pitch black color and she could now see what Shepard was seeing. He was in a dark room, badly hurt and wounded, besides him was Admiral Anderson, in a worst condition then Shepard was. Shepard limped over to Anderson and fell to the floor besides him.

"_Commander,"_ Anderson said in a tired, weary voice.

"_We did it sir,"_ John replied in an exhausted tone.

"_Yes we did, we both did. It's *ergh* quite a view,"_

"_Best seats in the house," _Shepard said in agreement with a few painful chuckles

"_God_," Anderson said in shock and exhaustion. "_Feels like years since I just sat down_"

"_I think you earned a rest_," Anderson didn't reply at first, only gave off a few primitive like grunts. Finally he asked in a pained and tired tone,

"_You ever wonder, if things would have been different? How our lives would have been different if this never happened? I never had a family Shepard, never had children_,"

"_There'll be time enough for that now_," John assured him. Anderson let out a pained laugh.

"_I-I think __**that**__ ship has sailed. What about you? Ever think about settling down_?"

"_I'm a soldier Anderson, like you, not really fit for doing anything else_."

"_Sure you would_," Anderson assured him.

"_Yeah_," Shepard said in agreement. "_I like the sound of that, not sure I'd be much good at it though_."

"_I don't know Shepard_," Anderson said in a slightly more upbeat tone then he'd been speaking in. "_I think you'd make a __**great**__ dad_," Shepard coughed a few times, getting the blood out of his lungs before replying.

"_Uhhuh_," he finally managed.

"_Think how proud your kids would be, telling everyone, their dad: is Commander Shepard_," Anderson's head began falling as he spoke, unable to hold it up for much longer.

"_I don't know about that_," Shepard admitted. "_Not everything I've done is something to be proud of_."

"_You did good son_," Anderson managed to say just above a whisper. "_I'm… proud of ya_," at that Anderson had died and the dream had ended. Liara blinked her eyes a few times and looked down sadly at Shepard.

"Oh John," She whispered. She had no idea that he was still torturing himself with memories from the war. She didn't expect him to be completely recovered from it but she would have thought he'd of talked to her about it. She took her hands and grabbed John's in them and held them to her chest as she put her fore head to his.

"I love you John," she whispered quietly as she slowly went back to sleep.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 19: Unlikely Bed Mates

Auron had taken a seat at a table at a small bar in Thessia for no longer than a few seconds when he saw the Turian he was supposed to be meeting. Approaching his table was Lorik Qui'in the Administrator of Port Hanshan with a briefcase in his hand. As Lorik approached Auron rose from his seat and extended his hand to him, which Lorik responded by shaking it firmly with his free hand.

"Mr. Bournemouth, a pleasure to meet you in person."

"Likewise Administrator, but please, call me Auron."

"Of course Auron, it isn't very often that one of our prime stock holders _willingly_ prepares his will. You understand that's why I needed to come here correct? To insure you're doing this of your own will and what not?"

"Of course," Auron said kindly. "I simply would like to get all of my business out of the way so I may enjoy the rest of my life without worry over it."

"I understand completely Auron. Now I have the copy of the will you asked for, and know that it _is_ only a copy. If you need to make any changes to your will you will need to call me to finalize the transaction.

"Of course of course, you don't mind if I skim through it do you?" Auron asked gesturing to the briefcase.

"I'd insist upon it." Lorik put his brief case on the table and removed several envelopes and several typed pages which he handed to Auron. Auron read over the will and was pleased to see that everything matched what he had instructed Lorik to do several days earlier.

"And I assume that it _does_ match the original correct?" Lorik didn't answer but removed another stack of papers and handed them to Auron. Auron read over the papers and saw the mark of authenticity and nodded appreciating as he handed the original copy back to Lorik.

"Forgive my suspicions Lorik; you can't be too careful in these matters."

"Understandable," Lorik said kindly. "Especially when it involves a billion credit stock worth."

"Especially so," Auron said with a small smile. "And the other matters I asked of you?" Lorik handed Auron the envelopes he had taken from his briefcase and slid them across the table.

"10 million credits, as you requested. This should get you by until you, well, _leave us,_ but if you need more I can transfer more funds from your accounts."

"Thank you but I don't think that will be necessary," Auron insisted as he put the envelopes into his pocket. "I'm more than positive we won't be doing business again, but if we do I'll come to Noveria. If I request you to come anywhere else assume it to be a trap, understand?"

"I do," Lorik said calmly. Changing the subject, Lorik put down his briefcase and put his talons together in a conversational position.

"So how is Commander Shepard these days?" he asked curiously.

"He's doing well, on his honey moon right now; and its Admiral now." Auron said. "How do you know Johnny?" Auron asked curiously.

"During his chase of the rogue Spectre Saren and his partner Matriarch Benezia we did a little work together back on Noveria; needless to say if it wasn't for him I may be in Anolesis position right now."

"That's right he told me about that little fiasco, Peak 15 correct?"

"Nearly completely destroyed by the Rachni. I'm glad to hear Shepard killed off their Queen, put an end to that damn species as a hole but cost billions to repair, almost bankrupted Binary Helix all together."

"Almost," Auron said smiling and getting one in return from Lorik. Suddenly Lorik's Omni-tool went off causing the Turian Administrator to look down at the device.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to cut this short, I have a meeting with a Matriarch in half an hour and you know how they get when you're late."

"Of course Lorik, a pleasure as always," Auron said as he shook Lorik's hand for the last time.

"Likewise Auron, I hope the Commander- excuse me- Admiral is as able a business man as you when the time comes." As Lorik left for his business meeting Auron decided it was a good time to head home. As he walked the long hike back to the house he took the time to enjoy the Thessian scenery. Due to the high level of eezo on the planet all of the local wildlife seemed to glow at night, even the water behind the house would glow at night, definitely made the need for street lights to be diminished. Auron laughed as he approached the house, as he reached for the door he paused. The front door was open slightly, like when someone goes to shut it but they don't pull or push it hard enough.

_I'm positive I locked all the doors in the house before I left,_ Auron thought to himself. Reaching to his belt he pulled out his old Carnifex hand cannon and silently opened the door. When he walked in he saw that the lights were on and on the couch, was Liara's father.

"Expecting someone else?" Aethyta asked bemused looking at the gun in Auron's hand while drinking from a bottle of whiskey. Auron holstered his weapon and walked into the living room.

"I was worried someone may have broken in, I didn't know you had a key to the house."

"I don't, turns out using your biotics on your index finger works as a great skeleton key."

"I'll keep that in mind," Auron said kindly as he walked into the kitchen. He put a tea kettle on the stove along with his personal mixture of tea leaves and set it to boil for about 20 minutes.

"If you don't mind my asking," Auron began not turning to look back at Aethyta, "What are you doing in your daughter's house while she's on her honey moon?"

"Meh, the bar back in town kicked me out for starting a fight. Shepard's usually got a few bottles of the hard stuff stashed away so I thought I'd stop by."

"Thoughtful of you," Auron said absently as he reached for his tea cup in the cabinet as he turned around to place it on the table he flinched and nearly dropped his cup when he saw Aethyta standing directly before him. He looked up into her face and could see the prominent blush on her face; she was either very drunk or close to being so.

"Something wrong?" Auron asked politely.

"Nothing at all," Aethyta said in an almost slurred tone. "I'm just curious as to why _you're _here,"

"I live here Aethyta," Auron said bluntly. As Aethyta stood straight to ponder the thought Auron side stepped the drunken Matriarch and placed his cup on the kitchen table, he then proceeded to the roof where he took his seat at the piano. Just as he was about to begin playing he heard a smash from back inside the house.

"What the hell is she doing?" Auron wondered aloud as he rushed back into the house. As he made it back into the kitchen Auron noticed that the pot he had been using to make his tea was now shattered all over the floor.

"What did you do that for?" Auron demanded angrily.

"I wanted to see what kind of tea it was," Aethyta asked in drunken innocence.

"Then remove the lid, not smash my tea pot!" Auron scolded. Auron went to the closet and activated the household floor cleaner; it worked as a mop, sponge, vacuum and wax buffer for any type of floor in a house hold. The ankle high device rushed over to the shattered tea pot absorbed the half made tea, cleaned up the shattered shards of the pot and cleaned the area perfectly. When he turned around he noticed that Aethyta was nowhere to be seen, it was at that moment he heard someone clumsily banging on the keys of his piano.

"Hell No!" he proclaimed as he ran back to the roof of the house. There Aethyta was absently pressing keys on the piano making the most horrid sound Auron had ever heard come from his piano. He approached the Matriarch and pulled her away from his piano in a not so kind manner.

"I'm sorry but you do NOT play a piano that way."

"Is that what that is? I thought it was an aerator, Aethyta said aimlessly. Auron dragged her back into the house and was about to lead her out the door when the Matriarch stopped abruptly in the middle of the living room.

"Where the fuck do you think you're taking me?" Aethyta demanded angrily.

"Outside of the house so you become society's problem," Auron said bluntly.

"You can't just kick me out of the house!" Aethyta scolded.

"No? Well I can very well try now can't I?"

"Do you think Liara and Shepard would appreciate how you're treating me?" Aethyta slurred as Auron tried to push her out the door.

"Well once Shepard learns where all his liquor is going I'm sure he'll be fine with it." Aethyta stopped right in front of the door way and turned around with an evil smile forming at her lips.

"I know what it'll take for you to quit your whining, and it'll be fun for the both of us."

Two hours later Aethyta was naked in bed smoking a cigarette while Auron laid down beside her surprisingly smug with himself.

"Well damn, if I had known you were that good I'd have jumped you earlier," Aethyta declared. Auron chuckled as he turned to look at the pleased Asari in his bed.

"What can I say; it's all in the fingers.

"So what do we do now?" Aethyta asked almost hopefully.

"Round 2?"

"You're on!"

AN: Just a funny little chapter (I thought) after the more serious ones I've done. Please review and tell me if you liked it and I'll have the next chapter up ASAP.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 20: An End to Paradise

Liara awoke to the smell of eggs one morning and realized then and there that she was starving. She and John had been very active in their 'post matrimonial obligations' and hadn't had thought much about eating the week they had been on Kahje. Liara looked up from the bed to see Shepard in front of the stove whistling while he worked on the eggs. Putting on a white robe Liara rose from the bed and walked behind Shepard and slipped her arms around him under his arms. Shepard smiled and without turning around said gently,

"Good morning, how'd you sleep?"

"I don't think either of us slept all that well," he laughed as he turned his head around to plant a kiss on the Asari's cheek.

"Hungry?" he asked gesturing to the cooking eggs on the pan.

"Starving, what's for breakfast?" she asked taking a seat at the table.

"Scrambled eggs; I was going for sunny side up but, well there scrambled now." Shepard put a plate down in front of Liara loaded with egg and two pieces of toast. He had a similar set up on his plate as he took his place besides Liara in the chair next to her. The two ate with minor small talk, both wanting to rest before getting back into bed, when Shepard asked a question.

"So how to Asari pregnancies work?" Liara put down her fork and swallowed her mouthful of egg before answering him.

"Aside from the way the child is conceived it's exactly like a human pregnancy. You carry her for nine months and then she's born, simple as that."

"So how do we know when there's a bun in the oven?" Shepard asked with a mouthful of egg. When Liara stared at him questionably he pointed to Liara's stomach and after a moment she got the saying and blushed slightly.

"I should be able to know if it worked or not within a week or so; but needless to say the more often we meld the better our chances."

"Well let's get back at it then," Shepard said readily as he picked up his now empty plate and carried it to the sink.

"Actually I was thinking we could go out today," Liara suggested. Shepard turned at the sink and stared at Liara quizzically.

"You mean out_side_?"

"Yes Shepard outside, we've been in our room for most of the trip and have barely seen any of Kahje's scenery." As Liara stood up to bring her plate to the sink she put her hand to her back and leaned back cracking several vertebrae and having Liara sigh in relief. "Plus I think we could both use a break don't you?" Shepard chuckled as he took Liara's plate when she approached him.

"I guess you're right, anywhere in particular you want to go?" The newlywed couple finally dressed themselves and walked out of their hotel room, having decided that they would visit the Prothean ruins in the area for a change of pace. As they walked into the lobby they saw Quoyle speaking with the Hanar from before working behind the desk; as they saw them approach Quoyle quietly cursed as he handed the glowing Hanar a credit chit.

"Everything alright?" Shepard asked the grumbling Drell.

"Would have been better if you two stayed in your room another day," he muttered causing Liara to blush wildly as Shepard laughed understanding the situation.

"Sorry to ruin your wager, next time we'll call ahead when we want to leave our room," Shepard teased.

"That's all I ask," Quoyle said ignoring Liara's smoldering stare. "You two planning on going somewhere?" At hearing of their desire to visit the Prothean ruins Quoyle led them outside of the hotel and brought them to a sky car; he took the driver's seat while the couple took their seats in the back of the car. As the car rose and began its short trek to the ruins Quoyle spoke up wistfully.

"Hopefully this visit to the ruins won't be as much fun as our last one, aye Dr. T'soni?" he asked.

"Why, what happened the last time you were here?" Shepard asked curiously.

"Cerberus attacked the ruins, probably to get the cipher that helped us gain the ability to read the Crucible blue prints," Liara explained. "A Phantom nearly killed Quoyle and the Illusive Man tried to form an alliance with me, not getting his way is probably what prompted his attack on Mars."

"You didn't tell me you spoke with the Illusive Man," Shepard stated bluntly.

"I didn't think there was a need to. He wanted to form an alliance with no information to back him and I turned him down. Simple as that," Shepard smiled as he wrapped an arm around Liara's shoulder and pulled her close to him.

"That's my girl," As they arrived at the docks that would take them to the ruins the trio approached a small boat that would take them to the ruins.

"I have to say I'm surprised Quoyle, I'd have expected the Hanar in charge of the mine to strengthen security after the attack," Liara observed.

"Oh it was increased quite a bit after that little episode," Quoyle admitted as he led the couple onto the boat. "Thankfully due to your bond mate's fame and reputation we're lucky enough to pass through most of it. Otherwise we'd have several security officials patting you down and doing extensive background checks." As they rode almost silently to the ruins Shepard couldn't help but feel a suspicious sense of Déjà vu; but that couldn't be possible, he had never been to the Prothean ruins before let alone on Kahje. Perhaps it was just the travel to the ruins like on Therum; he didn't have much time to consider this aspect as they soon reached the ruins. As he and Liara exited the boat they turned to Quoyle who seemed content on staying on the ship.

"Sorry, but I'd rather stay on the boat if it's the same with you. Take your time in the ruins; you're cleared for the whole day." The couple walked into the ruins and walked around, Shepard followed close behind Liara as she frantically went to anything that could have been important millennia ago. Shepard smiled as Liara gushed about the Prothean ruins talking about small portions of inaccessible tech or the foundation of the ruins indicating that Kahje could have had more land in the past, it was nice to see that after everything they had been through she still had the innocent obsession with the now extinct race that she had objectified for almost a century.

"Didn't Javik debunk most of your theories on the Protheans?" Shepard asked causing Liara to stop mid speech.

"He did," she admitted blushing slightly. "But he also told me the truth about his people and their time in history. While it definitely destroyed over half of my own research and thesis papers it's opened up new path ways for me to study; it's like reading a book that you've loved forever and just finding out that its one in a series of books."

"That good huh?" Shepard teased with a smile. Liara looked over at him with a coy smile.

"Make jokes but what Javik told me is vital for the book I've been working on, I only wish he could have been here to help with it," Liara said the last bit sadly as she turned to look at some markings on a nearby wall. Shepard frowned and walked up behind Liara, wrapping his arms around her waist and putting his head on her shoulder.

"You don't… have any regrets do you?" he asked seriously.

"No!" Liara shouted turning around in Shepard's arms to face him. "Of course I don't have any regrets about him saving your life. While I didn't want to lose anyone after the war Javik was… very insistent about saving you, and apparently he was intent on killing himself one way or another anyways."

"The last Prothean voice had spoken," he said remembering some of Javik's final words to him.

"Indeed; and hopefully, now that he's been put to rest, the Protheans can rest in peace with the Reapers finally defeated." Shepard nodded as they continued to hold each other for a few moments; suddenly Shepard remembered something as he pulled Liara away for a moment.

"We never did go through Javik's Echo Shard, I bet there's loads of Prothean history in there," Liara's eyes lit up with excitement as she smiled in remembrance.

"I can't believe I never thought of that before," she said excitedly.

"Well we've had a lot on our minds lately," Shepard teased. Liara laughed in agreement before leaving Shepard's embrace and continued to examine the ruins. Shepard followed her and stopped as he came up to a stone tablet that had old, nearly ineligible paintings on them. Upon closer observation Shepard saw that there was an image of a Prothean on the tablet pointing to a smaller version of the Hanar. He couldn't help but notice how similar it looked to the writings as the ones back on Thessia. As Shepard approached the tablet with an outstretched hand he heard something come from the entrance of the ruins. He turned and thought he heard… gun fire? Shepard turned to head towards the entrance of the ruins when he froze at what he saw: several men dressed in white and yellow armor.

_Cerberus,_ Shepard thought as he quickly head behind the wall before they could see him. Running as quickly and silently as possible Shepard went to Liara's position, she was typing excited on a terminal set up by the Hanar. Shepard pulled Liara away quickly and ungentle and threw her into a formation of rocks out of sight from the oncoming Cerberus soldiers.

"Shepard what are you-"

"Shhh!" he silenced her quickly. As he pushed her more into the crevice they soon heard the oncoming footsteps of the Cerberus troops. At hearing their approach Liara's eyes widened as she silently scrunched deeper into the hiding spot hoping to remain out of sight.

"I can't believe Petrovsky is sending us to these old ruins, what's he hope to find here anyway?" one of the troopers complained as they approached the terminal Liara was just on.

"Who knows," the Centurion said absently as he looked around warily. "All I know is that with the Illusive Man dead and most of our contacts ratted out by Petrovsky himself, we're gonna be scraping at the bottom of the barrel for a while.

"Yeah you're probably right," the trooper at the terminal agreed as he tapped at the screen. "Hey, the terminal's already been activated," he said warily looking around worriedly.

"You think someone else is in here?" the Centurion asked gripping his weapon tightly.

"I doubt it," the trooper said unassuringly, "It was probably that Drell on the boat we hit." Liara's eyes widened at hearing their words and Shepard shook his head warningly. He looked quickly beyond their cover and saw three soldiers at the terminal: two troopers and a Centurion. Shepard turned to Liara and mouthed, _are you armed?_ Liara shook her head sadly, Shepard swore silently as he looked around their surroundings. There wasn't anything they could use as a weapon and they were outnumbered and without armor or shields. Forming an idea Shepard turned towards Liara and signaled for her to use a singularity on the group. Understanding his words Liara lit up with biotic energy as Shepard silently limped behind the Cerberus soldiers. Liara then through a singularity above the three soldiers causing the two troopers to float up into the air with surprised shouts. The Centurion looked up at his flying partners and cursed loudly.

"Damn it! What the hell's going – Acck!" The Centurion's speech was cut off as Shepard rushed in behind him and wrapped his arm around his neck, cutting his airway and preventing him from breathing. Shepard used all of his strength to hold the Centurion in place as the air slowly left his lungs and left him still in Shepard's arms. When Shepard let him down he quickly reached for the Centurion's dropped Assault Rifle and turned quickly at the sound of Liara's voice.

"Shepard behind you!" she warned frantically. Shepard turned around to see two more troopers coming down the tunnel of the ruins with their weapons raised. Leaping out of the way Shepard was just able to avoid the shots being fired at him; unfortunately he landed hard on the ground and moaned as he tried to get off the ground.

_That didn't used to hurt, _Shepard thought as he ignored the pain in his leg as he hid behind the cover opposite the side of Liara. Liara threw up a barrier around the two giving Shepard some much needed breathing room as the two troopers fired futilely at the barrier.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly as she looked down at him. Shepard quickly checked the clip in his newly acquired rifle and nodded stiffly. "I've been worse," he said stubbornly. Liara took that as a chance to strike back, using her biotics she threw the two Cerberus soldiers firing at them into the walls of the ruins, followed by Shepard quickly releasing a burst of fire into both of them for good measure. As Shepard and Liara rushed out towards the entrance of the tunnel they were met by another trooper who apparently was left behind to guard the entrance. At seeing the two approach he raised his weapon in an attempt to kill them before suddenly falling to the ground due to a bullet going through his helmet. Shepard and Liara looked up from the corpse to see Quoyle holding a pistol in one hand and clutching his bleeding side with the other.

"Bastards snuck up on me, that's twice they've gotten me," Quoyle cursed as he slumped to the ground panting heavily. Liara rushed to his side and knelt down to examine his wounds.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly, Quoyle waved her away as she tried to examine the wound.

"Bullet only grazed me, I'll live but it'll hurt like hell until I get some kind of drugs in me. I already called in for help; officials are on their way now.

"That doesn't give us much time," Liara said. She left Quoyle's side and began searching through the gear of the fallen Cerberus soldiers. As she searched she managed to find a number of data pads and instructions seemingly issued from Petrovsky himself.

"Find anything?" Shepard asked as he hobbled towards Liara.

"Instructions issued from one General Oleg Petrovsky and several data pads with resources and a number of contacts for getting equipment. It also says that they snuck onto Kahje on a delivery cruiser, I'll have to check my contacts for a ship name when we get back." Shepard nodded in agreement.

"I'll tell Hackett what happened, the Councils gonna want to know what happened here."

"I guess the honey moons over then?" Liara asked sadly. Shepard returned the sad nod and said gravely,

"Yeah, looks like the honey moons over. Back to work.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 21: War on the Horizon

Liara and Shepard were already back on Thessia three days after the Cerberus attack on the Prothean Ruins on Kahje, as soon as their police force arrived on scene they immediately provided them a ship home to alert the council. The whole trip back was mostly quiet and not nearly as much fun as the ride to Kahje. As they drove quietly to the house Liara looked over towards her bond mate who had a pained expression on his face.

"John is everything alright?" she asked worriedly. He looked over to Liara and smiled a sad smile.

"Yeah I'm fine," he said gently. "I'm just thinking."

"What about?" she asked. Shepard shook his head for a minute, not in refusal to answer but to not believing it had happened.

"I just can't believe I thought that Cerberus would be out of the picture. I thought, well I _hoped_, that with the Illusive Man dead they'd disband. Guess I was wrong.

"Petrovsky must have organized the remaining members after his escape, or maybe even before his escape from Alliance custody." Shepard nodded but still looked pained as he continued driving in a pained silence.

"There's something else isn't there?" Liara asked. Shepard nodded looking ashamed as he spoke.

"Back when I leapt cover because of the troopers firing, when I hit the ground it hurt. A small fall like that would never have slowed me down before."

"Shepard you're still recovering from your injuries, you may be able to walk on your own now but Maelon said it'd be years before you were in fighting shape again. It's nothing to be ashamed of." Shepard didn't say anything but simply nodded; Liara could tell that there was still something bothering him but she guessed that he wasn't willing to talk about it so she let it go. It wasn't long now before they reached the house. Carrying their bags they entered their home and saw Auron sitting on the couch in a robe. Upon seeing the couples return he paled and stood up in shock.

"Johnny, Liara what happened? I thought you were going to be gone for another week."

"Cerberus attacked a Prothean Ruin we visited; we had to cut our trip short." Shepard explained. Before they could say anything else Aethyta's voice could be heard from upstairs as she yelled out for Auron.

"Hurry up Auron; you've had more than enough time to finish your tea! Get back up here and go for a triple play!" Auron paled again at Aethyta's call as did Shepard and Liara who ogled at what the Matriarch had said.

"Dad?!" Liara called out in disbelief. Seconds later Aethyta appeared coming down the stairs wearing one of her daughter's robes.

"What are you two doing home? You should be passed out in your hotel room right now." Shepard began rubbing at his eyes pressing hard into them with the palms of his hands trying to make the mental image of the older couple going at it with one another, Liara however was, unfortunately, very naïve about the situation.

"Dad, what are you doing here and why are you wearing my robe?"

"Don't answer that!" Shepard pleaded as he headed to the kitchen he opened up the liquor cabinet and moaned loudly at seeing it was emptied.

"Where's all the hard stuff?" Shepard demanded desperately. "All that's in here is Asari wine."

"Stop getting cognac by the way Shepard, it goes poorly with whisky," Aethyta instructed acting oblivious to Shepard's mental pains. Shepard grabbed one of the bottles of Asari wine and uncorked it while at the same time muttered to himself, "That's just sick and wrong," before guzzling the bottle's contents. When he finally stopped and looked back up at the couple he shook his head and downed the rest of the bottle before slamming it onto the kitchen table.

"SICK AND WRONG!" Shepard said as he looked at the older couple.

"You don't know the half of it," Aethyta said in a sultry tone as she looked over to Auron, which earned her a groan from both of the men. Finally getting what had happened Liara blushed heavily as she looked over to her father.

"Goddess, really Aethyta? You had to do that _here?_ In _our_ house?"

"We used your bed to," Aethyta announced causing Shepard to moan out loud.

"You didn't have to tell them that," Auron chided.

"Tell me his reaction isn't worth it," Aethyta said pointedly as she gestured to Shepard who was now heading over to his and Liara's weapon closet.

"John what are you doing?" Liara asked worriedly as Shepard pulled out and incendiary grenade from the closet.

"I will _not _sleep in a bed where your father slept naked in. There's only one justifiable way to clear my mind of that image." Shepard chased after him with loud protests as Auron looked over towards Aethyta.

"You're a horrible person," Auron said sternly, causing the Matriarch to laugh.

"I didn't hear you complain about it the last few days," Auron had no comment for that. After about an hour of coaxing Liara finally got the grenade out of Shepard's hand and reminded him that they needed to speak to the council about the Cerberus attack. Nodding reluctantly Shepard and Liara walked into the living room and activated the holo com, putting before them the five councilors.

"Councilors," Shepard said respectfully, aiming his respect more at Admiral Hackett and Bakara.

"_Admiral_," they all replied in a neutral tone. After a few moments of silence Tevos spoke up bringing to light the elephant in the room.

"_Admiral we read the report you sent us and we must admit that it is… disturbing that Cerberus has continued their operations_."

"Have they landed anywhere else other than Kahje?" Shepard asked.

"_Yes, while we hadn't been on the lookout for Cerberus of late we were unprepared for their landing on several colonies and planets_," Sparactus said curtly. "_No one was injured but the planets all had one thing in common."_

"Which is?" Shepard asked.

"_Each of the colonies and planets they visited had Prothean ruins on them: Therum, Kahje, Eletania, Eden Prime and Ilos_." Valern said looking down at a data pad.

"What is it that Cerberus is trying to do?" Liara asked curiously.

"_Due to Cerberus having had relied so heavily on Reaper tech prior to their destruction almost all of their resources and personal have been destroyed due to the Crucible firing_," Hackett explained. "_It's possible that their looking for new ways to bolster themselves using Prothean tech."_

"The only place that may have been remotely helpful to them would have been Ilos," Liara said calculatingly. "With all the Prothean corpses their and the remains of Vigil they may find something of use, as for the other ruins they'd be lucky to find a key to translate anything."

"_Regardless_," Hackett said sternly, "_We can assume that Petrovsky is running Cerberus now and you can bet that whatever he wants with Prothean tech it can't be good_."

"So how do you plan to handle it?" Shepard asked.

"_We've already sent out several Spectres to investigate the planets and colonies they landed on,_" Bakara explained. "_We also have sent forces to Ilos to clear out any Cerberus forces that may still linger there. Unfortunately that only helps with one of our concerns right now,"_

"What do you mean, what's going on?" Shepard asked. The original Councilors looked at one another hesitantly but Hackett responded immediately to Shepard's question.

"_The Yahg have sent ships from their home world of Parnack, they are now a space faring race." _Shepard felt Liara tense at Hackett's words; he reached out and gave her hand an affectionate squeeze before looking back at the council.

"For how long?" he asked.

"_We're not sure,_" Sparactus said jumping in to the conversation. _"We received word from the Quarian Admirals that several Yahg piloted ships approached Rannoch demanding aid from the Quarians."_

"Why the Quarians?" Liara asked regaining her composure_._

"_The Quarians have the largest fleet in the Galaxy now due to the Geth, due to them not being a part of Citadel Space the Yahg thought they'd be willing to ally themselves with them."_

"I'm hoping they said no, right?" Shepard asked.

"_Correct, Admiral Tali'Zorah spoke out against allying themselves against the Yahg due to an experience you all shared while working with Cerberus._" Valern said calmly.

"I'm guessing the Yahg didn't take rejection well?" Shepard inquired.

"_You guessed right Admiral, the party the Yahg sent for… negotiations grew hostile when the Quarians denied them. Fortunately the Yahg didn't know about the Geth and they were escorted off of Rannoch by several Prime units and escorted by their dreadnaughts out of the Perseus Veil."_ Hackett explained.

"Any casualties?" Shepard asked.

"_Thankfully no,_" Tevos said earning a sigh of relief from Shepard and Liara. _"Although when after the Yahg were escorted off of Rannoch Tali sent a warning to the council._"

"Play back the message," Shepard instructed. The council obliged and their holograms were replaced by one of Tali wringing her hands together, a sign that Shepard knew meant she was nervous and scared.

"_This is Admiral Tali'Zora Vas Normandy; I bear grave news to the Council of Citadel space. Just moments ago a… clan of Yahg approached Rannoch to ask for aid, and I use the term very loosely. They came armed to the teeth and claimed that they were here to better the Quarian race. They insisted that we joined under them in what they were calling the Yahg Empire, claiming that we would only be pardoned from our inevitable fate if we agreed to serve them. Of course we denied them, Keelah they got angry after that; they grew angry and drew their weapons on us, thankfully the Geth guards were able to put them down and escort them out of our area of space. I send this as a warning to the council, I fear that the Yahg are preparing for a war and I want you prepared to handle it. Keelah Se'lai."_

The message ended and the hologram images of the council returned. Shepard shook his head in both worry and fear as he met eyes with the councilors.

"Have the Yahg tried contacting any other races?" he asked distractedly.

"_No, but we don't think it will be long before they approach another race outside of Citadel Space."_ Sparactus said solemnly.

"Do we have any idea how they managed to finish several space ships so quickly?" Liara asked. "They aren't exactly the most technologically advanced race." Valern fidgeted slightly as he sighed morbidly.

"_I'm afraid that we have one theory,"_ he admitted solemnly.

"What is it?"

"_Approximately 20 years ago STG raided Parnack in secret to kidnap several Yahg specimens. We had planned to study them and find a way for them to be of aid to the Salarians for a secret upliftment program. They remained on Surkesh the entire time until the Cerberus raid early on in the war against the Reapers. They managed to escape and stole quite a bit of technology and data from our servers during their escape."_

"So now the Yahg have Salarian designed ship plans," Shepard said solemnly.

"Giving them access to high grade stealth model ships," Liara said in a hushed, worried tone.

"_Correct,"_ Valern said sadly.

"_We're keeping the Citadel Space army on high alert for any offensive advance from the Yahg. The races are also using their own individual armies to increase security to their borders. If the Yahg do try to attack, we'll be ready for them."_

"What do you need from me?" Shepard asked.

"_For now sit tight, we don't know how deep of a mess we're in yet. If we're lucky the Yahg won't pose much of a threat and we'll be able to neutralize them immediately, giving our attention to the Cerberus threat."_

"I understand, Shepard out," he said ending the call with the Councilors. Liara fell onto the couch in a slump as she began to shake slightly in worry and fear. Shepard immediately sat down beside her and wrapped her arms around her.

"Are you ok?" he asked gently.

"No-no I'm not ok John. The Yahg are preparing for war against the Galaxy, you remember how hard it was to fight one Yahg and now we have to fight millions of them!"

"They can't be worse than fighting the Reapers," Shepard said lightly, trying to get Liara to smile. She chuckled sadly as she leaned into Shepard's shoulder, losing herself in his embrace.

"I'm scared John," she admitted. "I'm worried what the Yahg might do to the galaxy."

"Whatever they plan, we'll be ready for them," Shepard said confidently. Liara looked up at him and nodded getting up and heading to her terminal.

"I have work to do, things to plan for." She said morbidly as she approached the terminal. Shepard nodded and said gently, "I to have something to deal with, something no man should ever have to do."

Half an hour later Shepard had managed to roll his king sized bed out of the house and into the backyard; with a tank of lighter fluid usually used for his barbeque Shepard covered the entire bed in the flammable liquid. Taking a match from his pocket he lit it and threw the match onto the bed, lighting it aflame in seconds. As Shepard watched the bed burn he heard footsteps from behind him, he turned around and saw Auron approaching him with two beers in his hands.

"Hid these from Aethyta, I assumed you'd need them," He explained as he handed one to Shepard. He smiled as he took one and drank deeply from it as he watched the bed burn. The two were silent for a few minutes before Auron spoke up.

"So Yahg huh?"

"Yeah," Shepard said morbidly, taking another drink from his beer."

"I remember the Yahg during my time at STG, the whole time they'd yell how they'd kill the Salarians and the rest of the galaxy that opposed them, guess now they're getting their chance," he said as he took his first pull from his drink.

"That's not exactly making me feel better Auron," Shepard said sardonically as he looked at the fire.

"No, but you forgot for a moment about the bed situation," he pointed out. Shepard smiled and drank from his beer. "True," he replied when he finished.

"And by the way," Auron said apologetically, "I took it upon myself to order you a new bed seeing how you decided to burn yours,"

"You didn't have to do that," Shepard insisted.

"Nah don't worry about it. Remember, Noveria investment money. It gives me something to use it on."

"Well if you keep sleeping with my wife's dad in our house we're definitely going to need new furniture." The two laughed for a moment as they watched the bed burn when Auron spoke up again.

"Johnny?"

"Yeah Auron?"

"How partial were you to the kitchen table?"

AN: Hey guys thanks for reading, please remember to review you know I live for those and I will have the next chapter up ASAP. So until then.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 22: The Good with the Bad

It had been several week since the meeting with the council, since then Cerberus had been caught with their tail between their legs. As Liara suggested there was a large group of Cerberus soldiers at the Colony of Ilos working restlessly on the downed VI known as Vigil trying to gain any information out of it that they could. Fortunately the Spectres sent to deal with them managed to clear the area out while capturing several higher ranked soldiers who knew more about their orders then the other soldiers. They were brought into questioning but unfortunately gave few answers before their faces exploded to the flash grenade implanted into their heads in case they were captured. Petrovsky must have heard about the raid on Ilos for once the area was cleared out Cerberus activity all but stopped. Liara kept at her terminal looking for the Cerberus General but had no such luck; unfortunately she was more preoccupied with monitoring the Yahg's progression. While little was known about the Yahg it was obvious to her sources that they were preparing for a war, the only question was when they would attack.

Shepard acted as a consultant to a number of Spectres looking for insight on Cerberus operations while also ordering Alliance troops in defensive positions on numerous colonies. As an Admiral Shepard was in charge of Anderson's division of troops which was the newly built and reformed fourth fleet, which consisted of the dreadnaught SSV Kilimanjaro, twenty frigates, thirty cruisers, several carriers and also the Normandy SR2, which was placed under Shepard's instruction under Admiral Hackett's suggestion. Shepard did his best to spread the troops out equally but was careful not to spread the ships to thin lest they made him a target, he gave Kaidan and his team on the Normandy direct information from Liara's terminals in attempts to snuff out what Cerberus higher ups they knew about. Shepard had to admit that he wasn't very experienced in issuing orders and had to work on not second guessing his decisions, thankfully his soldiers were loyal and wouldn't dream of arguing with Admiral Shepard.

Liara however had Shepard worried; she had been sitting at her terminal for day's straight not stopping at all to take a break. He knew that the Yahg threat had scared her greatly but she was working herself to exhaustion. Auron had caught her sleeping at her terminal once and, afraid to move her wrapped a blanket around her shoulders to make her more comfortable. After the sixth day of working nonstop Shepard decided that it was time he said something to his wife. He approached her from behind and wrapped his arms around her neck gently; she stiffened at first contact but eventually relaxed under his touch.

"John not now I'm busy," she said not looking away from the terminal.

"It's been six days Liara you need to rest," he argued.

"I'm fine," she insisted still not looking at him.

"Come on take a break, Feron and Glyph are more than able to cover for you."

"Feron is busy doing recon on several planets near Parnack, Glyph is running 200 scenario systems to see how the Yahg will try to attack and how to properly defend themselves."

"Liara," he started but was immediately interrupted.

"Shepard please!" she said frustrated as she turned away from the terminal to look at him. "I've got several terabytes worth of new data that I need to go through and you're distracting me; just- leave me alone." He was taken aback by her tone and she turned back to the terminal before seeing the look of hurt on his face.

"Whatever you want," he said gently, the pain audible in his voice. He walked away without another word to leave Liara to her work. As he left Liara looked over her shoulder to watch him walk up the stairs to the roof. She sighed angrily and put her head into her hands as she cursed herself for taking her fear out on him. He didn't deserve it and he was only trying to help; she considered going after him but knew that she really did need to sort through all of the data. She sighed again and went back to work.

As Shepard walked to the roof he was pleased to see Auron sitting at the bench and also slightly amused to hear him play a song he used to play back on Mindoir:

"_You better not touch my gal  
or I'll bop you in the kisser pal._

_You better not even try  
or you'll be lookin at a big black eye!_

_So listen good, you two bit hood,  
I'll give you till the count of ten!_

_And if you're not gone by the crack of dawn  
you'll never. Eat. Solid. Food again!_

Once he finished he turned around and gave Shepard a warm smile and scooted over making room for him on the stool.

"Johnny! I didn't hear you come up,"

"That's because your too busy jamming out," Shepard teased as he sat beside his old mentor.

"Hey now Johnny, I taught you better than to disrespect the classics." Auron said good humoredly.

"Auron they were classic over 100 years ago, now their ancient."

"Yes and it's still better than the crap they call music now a days. All that techno and electrical crap and what not. I don't know who this Rachel Bieber character thinks she is but someone needs to feed her to a hungry Varren." The two laughed and for a moment Shepard forgot why he had come up here; but only for a moment. His face suddenly frowned causing Auron's to do the same in confusion.

"What's wrong Johnny?" he asked sincerely.

"Nothing," Shepard said absently looking at the piano's keys. Auron chuckled slightly before absently tapping at the keys.

"If it was nothing you wouldn't be looking like a Krogan who popped his last thermal clip during the Rachni war, come on kid what's eating ya?" Shepard sighed but inevitably caved in.

"It's Liara… ever since learning about Cerberus and the Yahg she's been working nonstop on her terminal, she's going to work herself into the ground at the rate she's going."

"Well she's only one Intel broker, I'm sure she'll be forced to take a break eventually once she runs out of sources." Shepard laughed sardonically and shook his head.

"You'd be better off trying to find a music playing Krogan," Auron laughed again before turning to look at Shepard.

"Johnny I know I'm an old man who knows almost nothing about women,"

"Says the man sleeping with a Matriarch," Shepard muttered under his breath.

"One thing I do know," he continued with a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, "Is that women tend to work through their issues when it's an emotional conflict. When she's ready to talk about it I'm sure that you'll be the first person she runs to vent to."

"Yeah?" Shepard asked.

"Of course, I mean well, unless she falls for my charm like her father did," Shepard's expression went bug eyed at Auron's words causing the Salarian to laugh out loudly at his discomfort. Patting his old student on the back as he tried to calm down Auron began playing another familiar song on the piano.

"I remember you and Jaclyn used to play that as a duet," Shepard said nostalgically. Auron nodded sadly remembering the young girl from all those years ago.

"Yeah, she had a beautiful voice. Could have gone on tour if she wanted to, with the right pianist of course." Shepard chuckled as Auron started the song over and began singing it.

"_Heart and soul, you fell in love with her,  
Heart and soul, the way a fool would do,  
Madly…_

_Because you held her tight,  
And stole a kiss in the night."_

Shepard then surprised Auron by tapping at the keys himself playing the same song in a funky, older school Jazz kind of tone. Smiling Auron let Shepard tap away at the key board as he changed the way he sang the song.

"_That magic night they kissed  
Right there under the moon mist._

_That's where you lost con-TROL  
and fell in love heart and soul._

_HEART AND SOUL!  
She made you love her with your heart and soul._

_HEART AND SOUL!  
She made you love her with your heart and soul._

_You love her madly,  
Oh so very gladly, heart and soul."_

As Auron finished singing Shepard went above and beyond and did his best to show off a bit at the end with a free form Jazz grove that got Auron laughing when he finished.

_Downstairs five minutes earlier_

Liara stopped typing at the terminal and closed her eyes as a wave of nausea suddenly flowed through her. _Not again,_ she thought to herself as she slowly walked into the kitchen. She suddenly also felt dizzy and struggled not to fall when she reached for a cup in the cabinet. As she poured herself some water from the faucet, she drank from it slowly and took deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. Liara had been feeling sick randomly for the past few weeks and she was worried that she was coming down with something. She went to the doctors a week ago and was told she'd receive her results in a few days if she didn't feel better by then. Suddenly Glyph appeared besides Liara glowing brightly as it spoke.

"_Dr. T'soni I have finished compiling all possible ways for the Yahg to attack and have sent them to your personal storage folder."_

"Thank you Glyph," Liara said uneasily as she managed to calm herself enough to focus. "Glyph did doctor Shanra send anything for me?" Glyph was silent for a moment before answering.

"_Yes Dr. T'soni, earlier today she sent you an email about your condition."_

"What did it say?" Liara asked worriedly.

"_She said that you were in perfect health and that congratulations were in order."_ Liara was silent for a moment and her eyes widened as she processed the news. Suddenly from the roof Liara heard a very jazz sounding song coming from the roof as she heard Auron sing an upbeat song. As she listened she walked up the stairs and watched as Auron sang and John played the piano.

"_That magic night they kissed  
Right there under the moon mist._

_That's where you lost con-TROL  
and fell in love heart and soul._

_HEART AND SOUL!  
She made you love her with your heart and soul._

_HEART AND SOUL!  
She made you love her with your heart and soul._

_You love her madly,  
Oh so very gladly, heart and soul."_

Liara found herself smiling as Auron laughed while John played the piano quite well in the final part of the song. She watched as the men laughed casually at the end of the song, after a few moments Liara cleared her throat gaining her the attention of the two men.

"Well, look who found her way away from the computer screen," Auron teased. Shepard got up and limped over towards Liara. At seeing her expression his jovial look was replaced by one of concern as he approached his wife and bond mate.

"Liara is everything all right?" he asked worriedly.

"I-I'm not really sure, but I need to tell you something. Something important," After a few uneasy moments Auron stood up from his seat and gestured towards the stairs.

"Maybe I should go downstairs, give you two some privacy."

"No. Auron, stay," Liara instructed the Salarian. He looked over to Shepard who simply nodded, and took his seat on the stool. Shepard then looked back towards Liara and asked in a gently tone,

"What is it Liara," he asked worriedly. Liara looked up at John, in his clear blue eyes and as she opened her mouth to speak she couldn't find the words she wanted to say. As she struggled to speak Auron added to the situation by playing the theme to Jeopardy on the piano while still looking at Shepard and Liara. Finally after several seconds of awkward piano playing Liara blurted out what was on her mind.

"John I'm pregnant!" Auron hit a sour note at the same time as Shepard went bug eyed as he reacted to Liara's words. He tried to speak but all he managed to do was make inaudible noises as he tried to make audible words. He turned to Auron to try to get help in speaking but the Salarian seemed to have the same speech issue speaking in what seemed to be gibberish (or maybe Salarian). Finally Shepard breaks out in a grin and grabs Liara around the waist and spins her in a hug.

"Liara that's great news!" he finally managed happily.

"Is it really?" she asked worriedly. Her question caused Shepard to falter slightly.

"Well yeah, of course it is. Why is something wrong?"

"You don't think the timing is bad?" Liara asked.

"How could the timing be bad? You mean Cerberus and the Yahg?"

"No I mean the fact that Auron could have given me another sister," Liara said sarcastically. Shepard grabbed his head trying to rub the image out of his head while Auron went on babbling about using the proper protection.

"Please John just think about it for a minute," Liara pleaded. "Cerberus and the Yahg have threatened galactic peace; do we really want to worry about raising a child in the middle of a war zone?" Shepard shook his head as he grabbed Liara's hands into his.

"Liara there's always something threatening galactic peace: Geth heretics, Collectors, Reapers, Terminus System mercenaries or even just Wrex and Grunt drunk in the backyard. There's always something threatening the peace and every time we've sent them packing," he released one of Liara's hands and gently brought it to her stomach.

"And now we have one more thing to fight for in the galaxy," Liara looked up at Shepard and he could tell that tears were forming at her eyes. She ended up smiling though and brought his head down to hers to kiss him passionately. When they separated they smiles at one another as they held each other in their arms.

"We're going to have a baby," Liara said again, this time happily.

"I'm going to be a dad," Shepard said in shock realizing the seriousness of the situation.

"I'm gonna be an Uncle," Auron said as he wiped the tears of happiness falling from his eyes. Liara and Shepard laughed at Auron's theatrics as he took out a handkerchief from his vest pocket and blew his nose into it. At that moment the couple couldn't have been happier; they fell asleep in their bed together that night (newly purchased bed of course) and held each other in their arms. Liara had fallen asleep almost instantly but Shepard remained awake thinking of what the future could now bring.

_I'm going to be a dad,_ he thought to himself. As that thought continued to course through his mind he finally managed to fall asleep, a smile on his face and happy thought roaming through his mind about the future.

_Parnack_

The Yahg home world was not for the weak of mind or stomach, each and every member of their race was a seasoned warrior and capable of great mental feats. The first few months of their expansion was going poorly; they approached several species outside of the so called Citadel Space with the offer to serve under the Yahg in their Empire, but there were complications with each that they visited.

The Batarians were severely weakened due to the Reaper war and did not have the numbers or the intelligence to be of any use of the Yahg Empire. The Vorcha, while plenty in numbers and abled warriors, were not very bright and did not welcome the Yahg on their home world. The Quarians allowed them on their planet for negotiations but they evidently denied their offer to serve the Yahg as well. When the Yahg prepared to kill their current leaders in hope to replace them with more willing leaders their robotic servants, the Geth as they had learned they were called, intervened and forced them from the Perseus Veil. The only species that they would be able to convert at the time, if not through force, would be the Raloi of Turvess. The Avian species were not technologically advanced and would be easy for the Yahg to conquer and use their race as tools for their future goals.

It wasn't until recently that a human ship asked to land on Parnack to work on some sort of arrangement. The Clan leader allowed them to land but was preparing to kill the humans aboard the ship as they had the Councils greeters all those years ago for assuming they were _equals_. As the ship landed there were a group of Yahg awaiting for the advanced ship to release its leader. It opened revealing one man with black hair and a matching mustache and beard wearing a white military outfit. He walked alone and followed the group of Yahg who were to take him to their clan leader. When they entered the leader's chambers it led them to a large Yahg sitting in what appeared to be a form of throne. The Yahg wore an armored vest and armored trousers that covered the Yahg's entire lower body including his feet, making it needless for him to wear shoes. His skin was a greenish brown mix and he was scarred on the set of eyes in the top left corner of his face along with several other visible wounds on his arms.

The Yahg that had brought him in all knelt on one knee at being presented before their leader, who paid no attention to the other Yahg but kept each of his eight eyes on the human. He made no move awaiting the human's movements waiting to see if he would need to kill this human for his insolence. Surprisingly the human knelt to one knee and looked to the ground at the Yahg's feet.

"I am truly honored that you have agreed to meet me, please I apologize if anything I say may offend you ahead of time. I am unsure of how to address someone of your stature and would not wish to offend you. The Leading Yahg rose from his seat and approached the kneeling human, towering over him by at least 10 feet. The human did not raise his head as the Yahg approached but continued to stare at his feet until he felt it was safe. Finally after several moments the Yahg grunted and his guards left the room leaving them alone in the main chamber.

"You may rise and look upon me human," the Yahg said in a deep toned voice. The man rose and looked at the Yahg with a straight face watching as the eight eyes watched him carefully.

"What is your name and title human?" the Yahg asked curiously.

"I am General Oleg Petrovsky, the highest ranking officer left in an organization known as Cerberus." The Yahg stared for a moment before speaking up himself.

"I am Clan Chieftain Galba; you will address me as such when we speak."

"Of course Clan Chieftain Galba as you say." Oleg said politely.

"Why have you come to Parnack?" Galba asked bluntly.

"I have come to request aid from the Yahg people." Oleg said pointedly.

"And why should we help a known pro human group known for hating aliens?" Galba demanded. At seeing Petrovsky's look of surprise Galba allowed a small smile to form at his lips.

"Didn't think we knew about you?" he asked testingly.

"Honestly yes Clan Chieftain, I did not think you would have known of our organization. How may I ask did you hear of us?"

"That is of no concern to you," Galba said curtly taking a step towards Oleg. "You have admitted to being the leading officer of an anti-alien terrorist group, tell me why I shouldn't use your spine as a tooth pick." Oleg was obviously taken aback by the Yahg's words but maintained his composure.

"It is true that Cerberus is a pro human group, I will not deny that. But due to our formal leaders… reluctance to accept change he died chasing a false hope of controlling the Reapers. I on the other hand am not afraid to admit that there are races in the Galaxy more skilled than the human race." The Yahg stared suspiciously at this Oleg Petrovsky, he spoke well for a human but he had an agenda unknown to the Chieftain and he did not like it.

"What is it you want from us?" Galba asked suspiciously.

"To serve," Petrovsky said simply. Galba did not flinch at the man's words but he was surprised to hear so. He did not expect a race to want to join the Yahg Empire this early in their cycle.

"Why is it that you wish to serve?" Galba asked.

"Because I fear for humanity Clan Chieftain Galba," Oleg said in a sincere sounding voice. "When the Reapers attacked the Human race was hit hard, many were killed or lost in battle and we are not as powerful as we once were. Cerberus was built to defend humanity, but unlike its predeceasing leader I believe that we can better protect humanity while under the protection of the Yahg Empire." Galba stared at Petrovsky moving his eyes frantically to try and find a lie in the human's form. He found none.

"It is true that in the long run humanity would prosper under Yahg rule," Galba agreed. "But your race along with the others will not willingly submit."

"I know, and it is because of that that I am forced to take dire actions against my own people."

"How so?" Galba asked.

"While Cerberus isn't as powerful as it once was we still have an almost limitless amount of financial aid and off shore resources at our disposal. I understand that your people are rapidly working on increasing your number of spaceships. We can help you upgrade the ships you already have built along with any ship you are in progress of making. We will also allow you access to our finances to help in any way we can." Galba stared at Oleg for several more moments before finally speaking up.

"Let me make one thing clear with you General: This is not a partnership. You work _for _the Yahg Empire now; everything you do and attempt represents us. If I so much as suspect you of working on your own agenda I will kill you and all of your men without hesitation. Are we understood?"

"Perfectly," Oleg said without hesitation.

"Then welcome to the Empire General Petrovsky."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 23: 8 Months and Counting

"How long do Asari pregnancies last?" an aggravated Grunt asked as he and Shepard entered Shepard's house with their arms full of groceries.

"Another month, if we're lucky," Shepard replied with a grunt as he placed all of the bags on the kitchen table, followed by Grunt's load. It had been approximately eight months since Liara had told him the news that she was pregnant and while ecstatic at the time he slowly became paranoid and worried for Liara's health. They were both in a dangerous line of work: he as an Admiral for the Alliance and she as the Shadow Broker, as the time past Shepard's imagination got the better of him and he began to consider everything that happened an attempt on Liara's life. So in an attempt to ease his and Liara's mind he made a personal call to a few friends to see if they'd mind sticking around until Liara had the child; unfortunately almost everyone was busy with their own obligations and duties.

Kaidan and Garrus were off searching for the last remaining officials of Cerberus and couldn't take time off to stop by. Since word of the Yahg leaving Parnack both Tali and Wrex were busy preparing their people for a possible attack on their home worlds. It was always difficult contacting Zaeed and Kasumi, they could only communicate freely when they weren't on a job and James was busy working on the Normandy with Kaidan. Thankfully Grunt was able (and willing) to stay on Tuchanka for a few months until the baby was born thinking that if he stuck around with Shepard they'd eventually find something to shoot at, he even brought four members of Aralakh Company to assist him. Unfortunately nothing worthy of shooting had appeared and the Krogan found themselves doing errands for Liara when not on patrol late at night.

"You should have mated with a Krogan Shepard; 3 months and the little blighters' pop out."

"Yeah but imagine how ugly it'd look, I'm not that good looking to begin with." Shepard teased earning him a laugh from Grunt. They turned to the kitchen to see Auron and two Krogan busily working at the stoves preparing a meal for Liara, on seeing the two's return Auron rushed to the groceries and began sorting through the supplies.

"Thank god you're here," Auron said as he headed back to his meal. "Liara's getting impatient and wants her Asari fruit tart finished immediately.

"You're not done cooking it yet?" Shepard asked in shock.

"I made it 16 times! She's found something wrong with each and every one of my tarts," Auron complained flabbergasted.

"They tasted pretty good to me," one of the Krogan complimented.

"I feel the Plum/ Cherry ménage was to bitter though," the second Krogan offered.

"Of course! It needed more sweetener," Auron said as he turned back to his cooking. At that moment a third Krogan came from the main bedroom with a barely touched tart and a sad look on his face.

"She said it was too sweet," he said sadly, earning groans from everyone in the room. The first Krogan took the plate and swallowed the tart whole as he handed the plate to a flustered Auron who was mumbling how many more ways he could make a tart. Grunt shook his head in shock as he sat on the couch in shame.

"The strongest Krogan force in the galaxy reduced to making fruit tarts with a Salarian," he said shaking his head shamefully. "Don't ever tell Shepard about this Shepard," Shepard laughed as he took a seat besides the tank bred Krogan.

"Thanks for doing this Grunt, I really appreciate it."

"Meh don't mention it Shepard. Seriously, don't mention it." Grunt said pouting.

"You mean to tell me Nova wasn't a little crazy during her pregnancy?" Shepard asked.

"Of course she was, she got angry and easily pissed off just like every other female on Tuchanka. Difference is we give _them_ a shotgun and send them out hunting. Not cook them _tarts_." Shepard laughed as he looked over to his and Liara's room.

"I don't think we need to give Liara a gun, Biotics and what not." At that moment Auron appeared before Shepard holding out a carefully prepared tart on a plate.

"Shepard Dorg is too afraid to bring Liara another failed tart, maybe if you bring her this one she'll decide to eat it out of love and respect or some other bull shit."

"The last time I went in there she cried for an hour yelling '_Why don't you take me out anymore Shepard!'_ I'm with Dorg on this one."

"HEY!" Auron said angrily causing Shepard to jump to his feet in defense. "I have made 17 Asari fruit tarts for _your_ wife! I have been cooking nonstop for eight months for_** your **_wife. Now I love Liara like a daughter but if I have to make one more tart I'm shoving it down her throat! Now grow a pair and DEAL WITH **YOUR WIFE**!" Shepard took the plate and rushed quickly to his bed room. Grunt laughed and looked at the elderly Salarian with an approving smile.

"You've got a quad Salarian, I'll give you that."

"Thanks, now tell your men to stop eating all the leftover tarts. I don't think the toilets were built to take the kind of punishments Krogan can deal."

Shepard knocked gingerly on the door before opening it revealing his wife lying peacefully in their bed working on her portable terminal. At seeing Shepard's head in the door she waved for him to come in and patted the spot besides her for him to sit beside her. He approached the bed and sat gently besides her, placing the fruit tart in her lap and looking at the terminal in front of her.

"What are you working on? Cerberus leads? Yahg movements?"

"Baby cribs," Liara said happily showing him pictures of potential cribs for the baby.

"Didn't we already buy a crib for the baby? Like 3 months ago?" Shepard asked in confusion. Liara looked at him with a surprised look on her face.

"Did we? I don't remember." Shepard nodded uneasily and called out to Liara's VI.

"_How may I be of assistance Admiral?"_ Glyph asked politely.

"Glyph how many cribs has Liara ordered?" Shepard asked wearily.

"_Dr. T'soni has____purchased 6 cribs currently and is bidding on a seventh."_

"You're only having one kid right Liara?" Shepard teased earning him a blushed smile.

"I'm sorry," Liara apologized closing the terminal and putting it on the bedside table. "I guess the baby is still causing me to forget a few things."

"It's alright no harm done," Shepard assured her. He then spoke out to the hovering VI. "Glyph I want you to cancel orders on the last five cribs Liara bought and end the bidding on the seventh. Also keep an eye on her to insure she isn't doing anything she shouldn't."

"_Of course Admiral,"_ Glyph responded blinking away.

"Really Shepard it was a simple mistake," Liara pouted.

"I know, but better to be safe than sorry. Besides I don't want to come home one day to 20 cribs in the living room; there's barely enough room for the Krogan," Shepard joked. Liara laughed and took a bite from her tart, Shepard watched as she chewed and swallowed the tart and seemed to nod in acceptance causing Shepard to sigh in relief.

"So how have you been feeling?" Shepard asked.

"I'm ok, I feel cooped up though lying in this bed all day. I wish I could move around a bit."

"I know but you heard the doctor, she said that due to you giving birth while still in your Maiden phase you should stay in bed as much as possible; and no biotics either. For the baby's sake and mine," Shepard pleaded with only a hint of joking in his tone. Several months ago when Liara's temper had raised she had dangled him upside down with her biotics and only stopped due to being extremely happy to see Auron with a tray of cookies. Liara smiled with a laugh as she gently kissed John on the lips, who responded with an equal gentleness in return. When they parted Liara looked upset about something.

"John?"

"Yeah Liara?"

"Do you still find me attractive?" The question took Shepard by surprise.

"Of course I still find you attractive; you're as beautiful now as the day I met you,"

"Flattering since you found me dehydrated in a Prothean bubble," she teased.

"You know what I mean," Shepard said smiling nudging Liara gently before frowning slightly. "Why ask though?" he asked curiously. Liara sighed and put a hand on the large bump on her stomach.

"Well you haven't been sleeping with me for a while now and I was afraid that… well you know." Shepard immediately felt guilty knowing fully why they weren't sleeping in the same room together. They had decided that until the baby was born they would withhold from any sexual activity after reading something online about babies hearing what was going on outside of the womb, and while he knew it was for the babies good it was slowly driving him crazy. It came to the point where he had to sleep outside of their room to refrain him from starting anything he'd regret later.

"I'm sorry about that Liara," he said honestly. "It's just that after we agreed not to have sex I find it hard to withhold myself sometimes. Sleeping in the other room just makes it easier to control myself."

"So you still think I'm beautiful?" Liara asked hopefully. Shepard smiled as he wrapped his arm around Liara and pulled her into his side.

"Liara, you're so breathe taking that I sleep in a room with four Krogan, who probably haven't bathed since they left Tuchanka, just so I don't jump you in the middle of the night." Liara laughed as she wrapped her arms around Shepard's waist.

"Well do you think you can control yourself for a night or two? Pregnant or not I miss my bond mate at nights."

"I think I can promise that," Shepard teased, kneeling down for another kiss. Their kiss was ended prematurely by Glyph who appeared in front of Shepard and Liara's face.

"_Admiral, Councilor Hackett is on the Vid Com awaiting you; shall I tell him to call back?"_ Shepard sighed and looked down apologetically at Liara.

"No Glyph tell him I'll be right there," as Glyph disappeared Shepard gave Liara a quick kiss on the cheek before getting out of the bed. "Duty calls," he said regretfully. "I'll see you tonight," he promised as he went to leave the room Liara called out to him.

"John?" Shepard turned around to see Liara holding out the tart for him.

"This tart is a little to bitter, can you have Auron bring in the last one please?"

As Shepard returned to the living room he quickly gave Auron the tart, relaying her message, and leaving the enraged Salarian to enter the living room to activate the vid com. As he approached Grunt moved over allowing Shepard's image to appear on the vid com, when he activated it a life size hologram of Hackett appeared on the table before Shepard and Grunt.

"_Admiral Shepard,"_ Hackett said as he saluted Shepard.

"Councilor Hackett," Shepard responding with a salute. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"_Business I'm afraid; I've got reports here on our Yahg and Cerberus investigations you may want to hear,"_

"Anything good for us?" Shepard asked wearily.

"_Yes and no. Both parties haven't made a move in the last several months: The Yahg have stopped approaching other races to join them and we have reports that Cerberus has disappeared to whatever rock they've been hiding under. We've had no reports of action from either party but the Yahg had all of their outward ships returned to Parnack."_

"You think there both planning something?" Shepard asked curiously.

"_I do, unfortunately most of the council believes otherwise and has refused to send any Spectres to investigate. Now I have the authority to request a Spectre investigate on my own, but of the three Spectres I trust two of them are off on their own missions._" Shepard froze from the realization of what Hackett was asking him.

"You want _me_ to investigate?" Shepard asked bemused.

"_I know it's a lot to ask Shepard, especially with Liara due any day now, but you're the only one I can turn to; unless you can get ahold of Kaidan?"_

"No, he's been offline to prevent Cerberus tracking their location through Network Buoys. Surely there's another option, Liara's pregnancy aside I'm not exactly in the best shape to return to duty."

"I've got an idea," Grunt said speaking up for the first time. "The rest of Aralakh Company is on standby back on Tuchanka, things have been slow back home and they've been put on patrol duty. I can give em a call and send them out where ever you need them to."

"_This is an important mission Grunt, are you sure Aralakh Company is capable of succeeding?"_ Hackett asked.

"Of course, their Krogan aren't they? Just give me the Coordinates and I'll tell them where to go." Hackett seemed to consider the option for a moment before finally nodding his consent.

"_Very well, I'm sending the coordinates to Shepard now; have Aralakh Company work through him. Be warned that stealth will be needed on this mission Grunt. Hackett out."_ As Hackett's image disappeared Shepard's Omni-tool went off with the coordinates for Grunt's team to run to.

"You sure Aralakh Company can handle this Grunt? I'm not doubting your men but stealth isn't really a Krogan's specialty." Shepard said while sending Grunt the data.

"Normally you'd be right Shepard, but Wrex has an agreement with the Quarians to send us top of the line ships and crew in exchange for Krogan willing to clear out their old colonized worlds of unwanted company. Aralakh Company will do fine and have information for us in a matter of weeks." Shepard nodded as he looked at the clock on the wall.

"Well it's getting late Grunt, I'm gonna go to bed."

"Good night Shepard, try not to keep everyone awake in there," Grunt kidded as Shepard walked into his room shaking his head. Grunt found himself smiling as he typed in the address for Aralakh Company on the Vid Com. Things were about to get fun.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 24: Mindoir: Round Two

It had been two weeks since Grunt had sent a message to Aralakh Company to investigate the sudden retreat of the Yahg and Cerberus troops from several months ago. The two warriors knew that they would need to wait at least another couple weeks for any word from the Krogan but they were still worried due to the lack of contact with the ship. Luckily Liara was keeping everyone in the house busy fetching things for her and making her life as easy as possible. The only surprise that was positive so far was Aethyta's sudden appearance at the house; she had been gone for the majority of Liara's pregnancy and was refusing to say why. Not that Shepard minded, it insured that there was plenty of liquor in the house and that he wouldn't have any more nightmares about her and Auron in the bedroom upstairs.

"Aethyta, what are you doing here?" Auron asked as the Matriarch walked into the kitchen obviously amused to see the four Krogan of Aralakh Company aiding Auron in his cooking.

"Well I was in the mood and I thought I'd stop by for a nooner. That was before I learned you were teaching Krogan how to be gourmet chefs of course, now I just want to watch."

"Sorry, but we're busy cooking for your daughter. She's constantly hungry but seems to have become very particular about what she eats."

"So you need four Krogan as line cooks?" Aethyta teased.

"Hey," Auron said defensively, "After the eight months I've spent with these Krogan cooking for your pregnant daughter I'd go to war with each one of them. It'd have to be easier than this that's for sure." The Krogan cooking beamed slightly from the praise given to them by Auron but were ignored by Aethyta who just scoffed at the idea.

"Please, it's one pregnant Asari. I never had these many people waiting on me when I had my girls."

"Well maybe if you were around to help you'd see how much we're struggling here!" Auron said cruelly as he gave a hard look over to Aethyta. Apparently that seemed to anger the Asari.

"The hell is that supposed to mean Auron?" Aethyta asked coolly.

"What it means," Auron said, turning to Aethyta with a ladle pointed at the Asari's ample chest in a hard voice. "Is that maybe if you were around to help your daughter through her pregnancy instead of just showing up for your selfish reasons that you would understand how much stress everyone in the house is!" Auron turned his back on Aethyta who was now blushing in what everyone had assumed was anger.

"How dare you!" Aethyta demanded turning Auron around to face her.

"How dare you… turn me on like that and then deny me?!" Auron gave a sly half formed smile as he brought his face directly in front of Aethyta's.

"Now, unless there was something else you needed…?" Aethyta grabbed Auron by his apron and pulled him into a very deep, hot and passionate kiss that caused even the Krogan to blush awkwardly. When she pulled away she looked into the Salarian's now goofy looking face and said sternly:

"If you're sweet Salarian ass isn't in bed in 10 minutes I'm dragging you to your room myself, understand?" Not waiting for an answer Aethyta turned towards the stairs leaving Auron with a smile on his face and the sudden urge to take a break, he first turned and addressed the Krogan.

"Alright team, taste test." The four Krogan all held out a plate of food for Auron to taste: a soup, a salad, a small steak with parsley and a side of steamed Asari vegetables and the damned Asari fruit tart. Auron tasted each of the plates with his ladle before nodding in approval and taking off his apron.

"Very good men, now bring the meal in for the couple. I've got an aroused Matriarch waiting for me upstairs."

Liara and Shepard were lying in their bed together; both of them had their hands on Liara's stomach.

"Did you feel it?" Liara asked expectantly.

"No!" Shepard said frustratedly.

"How could you not?" Liara demanded.

"I don't know Liara I just didn't feel anything!" Shepard complained.

"She's been kicking for the past hour John how are you not feeling it?" Shepard sighed and removed his hands from Liara's stomach.

"It's a sign," Shepard said pitifully. "She's not even born yet and my daughter won't listen to me. First it's not letting me feel her kick in her mother's womb next she's going to want to run away and get married.

"John!" Liara exclaimed laughing.

"I'm serious Liara! It's just like those parenting vids warned us about. My daughter already doesn't like me and is planning to defy me already."

"Defy you?" Liara asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well us," he said trying to recover. Liara merely smiled as she grabbed Shepard's hand and placed it on her stomach again.

"John she isn't even born yet and already you're going off about how much of a wild child she's going to be. I'm sure that when she grows up she is going to love you almost as much as I do." As if to prove a point a small kick could be felt under Shepard's hand. He looked to Liara with a smile who returned it warmly.

"I'm sorry," he said wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "I just can't believe that our little girl will be born in a few weeks."

"I know I'm worried to," Liara admitted.

"Hey, as long as she doesn't bring a Krogan home, I'm happy."

"What's wrong with Krogan?" a voice asked from the doorway. Liara and Shepard turned their heads to see the quartet of Krogan entering the room with plates filled with food for Liara.

"Liara's dad is half Krogan; we really want any more like that around?" Shepard teased

"I don't know about you, but Auron seems to like them that way." Shepard moaned painfully as he brought his hand to his head to massage his temples.

"Please tell me there not going at it," At the Krogan's silence Shepard moaned and stood up from the bed.

"Where are you going?" Liara asked.

"I need whiskey, back in a minute," Shepard informed her. As Shepard limped to his liquor cabinet he began rummaging around for a good bottle when Grunt came up to him looking excited.

"Shepard I have news, what are you doing?" he asked gesturing to the bottle of alcohol in Shepard's hand.

"Auron and Aethyta having sex," Shepard said plainly. Grunt shivered and grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet before heading back to the couch. As Shepard sat next to Grunt the bottle was already emptied down Grunt's gullet and he barely seemed affected by the drink.

"So what's the news Grunt? Did your company contact you?"

"Yes, they couldn't land on Parnack but from what the Quarian techs on board could tell us is that there mass producing their ships, for war if we're lucky."

"And if we're not lucky?" Shepard asked coyly.

"They use them to surrender themselves without a fight," Grunt said seriously. Shepard laughed as he poured a glass from the bottle of bourbon he had selected and quickly downed its contents.

"Grunt as much as you don't want to hear it I think having the Yahg surrender would put a many of the galaxy at ease. Grunt merely shrugged as he gestured to the Krogan reentering the room with Liara's dirty plates from her meals.

"They've been here for four months Shepard and they've grown soft taking care of your mate. Imagine how it'd feel knowing all of Tuchanka has gone soft due to their being no war."

"I don't think we have to worry about that Grunt," Shepard assured the Krogan. "The Krogan always find something to shoot at." Grunt laughed agreeably as Glyph materialized in front of the two on the table before them.

"_Admiral I've received a call from a lawyer on Mindoir wishing to speak with you,"_

"What does she want?" Shepard asked curiously.

"_She did not tell me, she insisted it was a personal matter to be discussed only with you."_ Shepard looked over to Grunt who merely shrugged in ignorance as Shepard nodded towards the VI.

"Alright Glyph, patch her through." At that moment Glyph's image changed to that of a woman dressed in a suit and had the obvious air of someone in the law profession.

"_Mr. Shepard, I'm pleased that you accepted my call. My name is Sonya Weston; there is a matter that I need to discuss with you."_

"Alright, what is it?" Shepard asked bluntly.

"_Well since your visit to Mindoir approximately a year ago and to the bonding to your… partner, there was an added clause in your father's will due to take effect if you ever married if he died before attending the wedding."_

"Really?" Shepard asked in surprise, he hadn't expected his father to leave him anything in his will. He didn't even know his father had made a will; he was a young man when the Batarian pirates had killed him back on Mindoir, only 36. "Alright, what did he leave me?" he asked curiously.

"_I'm sorry but I am not allowed to speak of the will's contents unless it's to you in person, I'm afraid that you'll have to come to Mindoir immediately._"

"Now?" Shepard asked complexed, looking to the bedroom door reflexively. "Now's not really a good time; is there any way that you can come to Thessia for us to discuss my father's will?"

"_I'm afraid not," _Sonya said sternly. "_It specifically states that you must be on Mindoir to receive the contents, and if you aren't present within a weeks' time the contents will be lost to you."_ Shepard sighed as he put his head into his hands to think.

"Alright," he said not removing his head from his hands. "I'll try to work something out and be on Mindoir within the week."

"_An excellent decision,_" The lawyer said almost smugly. "_We look forward to seeing you in a week's time at Mindoir's House of Law and Order,"_ The woman's image disappeared as Glyph floated off towards his bedroom.

"If you need a ship Aralakh Company is refueling on Thessia right now," Grunt offered. Shepard shook his head and looked over to Grunt.

"Thanks Grunt but a ship isn't the problem, I don't know if I want to leave Liara this close to the end of her pregnancy."

"Where are you going?" A voice said from behind. Shepard and Grunt turned to see Auron approaching them in a tank top, sweat pants and his glasses.

"Did you know anything about my father having a will?" Shepard asked the Salarian.

"Can't say that I do Johnny," the Salarian admitted with a frown. "Why the sudden interest?"

"A lawyer from Mindoir just called saying I need to head over there to collect something from my father's will that he left me if I ever got married."

"Well that doesn't exactly sound like Jack," Auron said suspiciously but also with a hint of curiosity.

"I can't go can I?" Shepard wondered aloud. "Liara's due any day now, it wouldn't be right."

"You could ask," Auron encouraged slightly. "Worst case scenario she says no," Shepard thought about it for a moment and nodded to Auron.

"Your right I'm going in," As he walked towards the bedroom he noticed Grunt following him from behind. "I wanna see how this plays out," he said plainly. Shepard shrugged and walked into his bedroom with Grunt close behind. At seeing the two walk in Liara immediately suspected that something was going on. On questioning them Shepard told her about how he was just contacted by the lawyer on Mindoir and about his father's will and of the one week time frame to collect what was his. Liara stared at Shepard for several moments before finally deciding it was appropriate to speak.

"You do realize that I will be giving birth to your daughter any day now right?" she demanded sternly.

"I do," he said calmly.

"And you want to go to Mindoir?"

"Yes," Shepard watched as Liara's eyes seemed to move from several different kinds of emotions that he assumed were caused due to the pregnancy. Finally her eyes took on a softened touch and she sighed as she looked at her bond mate lovingly.

"Alright you can go, but I want you back in three days. You understand me?"

"Perfectly," Shepard promised as he bent down and planted an appreciating kiss on her lips. "You know your amazing right?" Shepard asked kindly. Liara snorted as she laid back into the bed resting her hands on her large belly.

"Doesn't stop you from leaving though does it?" she asked teasingly. Shepard smiled and kissed Liara goodbye as he and Grunt left the bedroom. Shepard approached Auron and said "Make sure to keep an eye on her, I'm leaving the Krogan here to help you out and for security." Auron nodded and hugged his student good bye.

"I'll make sure the kid isn't born till you get here," Auron promised. Shepard smiled and looked over to Grunt. "You still willing to give me a ride to Mindoir?" he asked. Grunt nodded and the two left for the space port. The ship of Aralakh Company was a former Flotilla ship from the Migrant Fleet that had been traded with the Krogan and upgraded with increased armor and weapons systems. The ship had a crew of 30 Krogan, the actual members of Aralakh Company followed by 20 Quarians to fly the ship. Grunt told Shepard that the Quarians were teaching the Krogan how to fly in hopes to help wean them off their dependence of Quarian pilots.

"No Geth piloting the ship?" Shepard asked. Grunt shook his head.

"Wrex didn't want them on Tuchanka, said that until we plant our feet more firmly we don't want any technology on Tuchanka that we can't understand. Although I'm told we have an excellent science division in development." The ride to Mindoir wasn't as fast as when Shepard rode in on Garrus's ship the Cloaked Dagger. While the Quarians were superior pilots the ship was designed more for durability in a fight then for its speed while also being a transport for Aralakh Companies 2 Mako, a Hammer head, and a triton class shuttle; it took approximately 18 hours before they were within range of Mindoir. As the ship approached Mindoir Shepard noticed that two of the Quarians were pointing restlessly at several scanners.

"Is something wrong?" Shepard asked the worried Quarians. One of them turned to him and pointed at the scanner.

"This is indicating that there are several unidentified ships surrounding the planet, but as we look out the window there is obviously nothing there."

"Could it be some kind of cloaking device?" Shepard asked.

"There isn't a cloaking device that can hide an entire ship," the other Quarian insisted. Before Shepard could question them again the ship shook violently due to being struck from the starboard side of the ship as it began to fall rapidly towards Mindoir. Grunt ran from his previous post and approached the Quarian flying the ship.

"The hell just happened?" Grunt demanded angrily.

"I haven't a clue but we've been struck on the starboard side of the ship by a low leveled Thanix cannon. It pierced through our armor and nearly breached the hull, strengthening kinetic barriers to compen-" the Quarian was interrupted as the ship was shot again from the same side. The ship began to fall and began falling towards Mindoir. As the ship fell everyone was panicking doing whatever they could to stabilize the ship while several Quarians tried to contact the port on Mindoir for support.

"What do you mean you can't help us dock you boshtet! We're going to crash on the colony any minute now!" The responding voice was full of static and only several words could be heard from their transmission.

"_Can't…. fire….. Coordinates….. Land."_ After several minutes a Quarian shouted out, "They've given us safe coordinates for a crash landing, what are our orders?" Grunt scowled as he looked at several of the monitors the Quarians were typing at.

"The minute were in Mindoir's gravitational pull it's going to make us its bitch!" Grunt said angrily. "Set the auto pilot for a crash landing away from the colony, and then load everyone up into the machines. Don't just stand there you worthless Pyjacks MOVE!" Grunt's orders were followed as the Krogan all headed for the vehicles while most of the Quarians followed while several stayed behind to finish the commands for the Auto pilot. It wasn't long until everyone was loaded up into the vehicles waiting for the drop. Shepard, Grunt, six Krogan and two Quarians went into the Triton model shuttle and safely flew off of the ship and into Mindoir's atmosphere. Once the space ship was low enough to Mindoir's atmosphere the Makos and the Hammer Head were dropped onto the ground with the remaining crew: thankfully there were no casualties. As the Makos, Hammer Head and Triton shuttle went down a path towards Mindoir they were stopped by what appeared to be Alliance soldiers demanding they stopped. Shepard's shuttle progressed to the front of their small parade and stopped before the soldiers where they were met by Alliance soldiers holding them at gun point.

Shepard remained calm by being held at multiple gun points but the Krogan on the shuttle (including Grunt) aimed their weapons and glowed with biotics at the sight of hostility.

"Identify yourselves; you just crash landed a ship onto a human colony."

"Stand down soldier," Shepard ordered sternly, allowing no softness in his voice.

"By whose orders?" the soldier asked threateningly.

"Admiral John Shepard, Alliance Navy." Shepard could see the soldiers eyes widen through his helmet as he ordered the men to lower their weapons, once they were lowered Shepard calmed down the Krogan.

"Admiral I'm sorry for the hostile meeting. I am surprised to see you hear on a Krogan ship, are reinforcements on their way?" the soldier asked.

"Reinforcements?" Shepard asked in confusion. "Reinforcements for what?"

"The Yahg sir! They've attacked Mindoir!"


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 25: Battlefront Part 1

Shepard stared at disbelief at what the soldier just said and shook himself out of his confused trance.

"If this is some kind of a sick joke soldier I'm not laughing," Shepard said angrily but with little heat behind his tone. The soldier shook his head morbidly as he holstered his rifle to his back.

"I'm sorry sir but we're stuck between a rock and a hard place," the soldier said cautiously.

"Tell me what happened," Shepard ordered. The soldier nodded but looked away in the direction behind him.

"We've set up a temporary base a few miles away; I'll fill you in on everything once we get there." The men lead the company of Krogan and Quarians to a small cave that was well hidden from sight from any direction including from aerial scouts. The ships were put into storage under the Krogans supervision while the soldiers requested the aid of the Quarians to help with ship repairs and quick upgrades. The cave went deep underground and seemed to connect to a dried out aqueduct. There were maps of the colony on the walls and on stones used as makeshift tables. There was little in use of technology aside from what Shepard's group had brought and the few vehicles the soldiers had had previously. As Shepard and Grunt followed the soldier who had brought them to the hide away they saw several groups of families huddled up looking terrified as they saw men and women arm themselves with what weaponry they had.

"Shit Shepard, it looks like there expecting the ceiling to cave in at any minute," Grunt observed nervously putting his hand on the butt of his Claymore.

"That's the basic gist of it," the soldier informed sadly.

"What happened? How did this happen?" Shepard demanded raspily.

"It was the Yahg sir, they came out of nowhere. They jammed our communications and shot down half of the ships orbiting the colony."

"There should have been an SOS sent out before communications were cut off, and how are they able to block off an entire colony?" Shepard questioned angrily quickly getting frustrated.

"We're not sure sir, our tech specialists seem to think that they tampered with our satellite towers cutting off our contact with the rest of the galaxy. It happened like clockwork sir it was a nightmare: communications were taken out, our orbiting ships were taken down by an unseen foe and suddenly there are hundreds of Yahg swarming the colony."

"Are there any ideas on what shot you down?" Shepard asked.

"Not a one sir. There were reports of ships on radar approaching but they couldn't find out was alerting the signal, after that our ships were taken down."

"How many trained soldiers do you have?" Grunt demanded.

"Approximately 200 trained soldiers along with about 500 volunteers who have had no training what so ever.

"That few?" Shepard asked astonished. "What about civilians how do they fare?"

"Well we have approximately 5,000 civilians hidden in the deeper sections of the aqueducts that consist of women, children, elderly and others unable to fight." Shepard sighed harshly as he looked around the cave seeing soldiers instructing volunteers how to fight while groups of families were lead passed them to what Shepard expected were the deeper sections of the cave. Shepard shook silently in anger; first the Batarians attacked them and now the Yahg? What did these people do to deserve such a thing? Shepard sighed as he looked over to Grunt.

"What do you think Grunt?" The Krogan looked down to his battle master and shook his massive head with a disapproving scowl on his face.

"Having untrained men fight is pointless, especially on a foe like the Yahg. As far as I'm concerned there are only about 250 soldiers that can actually fight and 20 of them are Quarian. So they don't really count. This place may be secured for now but it's only a matter of time before the Yahg find this place, and when they do we can count on a blood bath." The soldiers face paled at Grunt's words and looked over to Shepard hoping he'd have more hope filled inspiring words. When he said none the soldier began shaking his head frantically while asking in a panicked tone,

"So what are we going to do then? Is there no hope?"

"Nope. No hope," Grunt said bluntly as he grabbed his Claymore off his back and cocked it readily. "Just 30 Krogan looking for a good fight." He said the last bit with a laugh as the soldier looked back to Shepard worriedly.

"He isn't serious is he?" the soldier asked. Shepard nodded and put a supportive hand on Grunt's shoulder.

"Grunt's company is made of the finest Krogan soldiers on Tuchanka, if anyone can help fight off the Yahg it's them." Grunt nodded and beamed slightly at Shepard's words. The soldier still looked unsure but eventually nodded his consent.

"Very well Admiral I leave my men at your command, we follow your lead." Shepard's group immediately took the initiative to do their best to help fortify the makeshift base to give it better protection for the civilians and for the men stationed there. The Quarians were able to make several dozen mines with scrap material they were able to scrounge from their land vehicles and from their crashed ship when a group of Krogan scouts had returned with what supplies they could salvage, they also worked on trying to send a message out to the nearest militaries to send reinforcements with little success. Shepard then ordered that everyone not trained by a form of military be kept at the make shift bunker to defend in the event that the Yahg found them. Grunt had sent out several groups of scouts to survey the area and to return several hours later with reports on the colony and its major facilities, unfortunately when they returned the reports were not good.

Apparently the Yahg had sent thousands of their soldiers to the colony to invade and follow through on whatever their orders were. There were several groups each consisting of several hundred Yahg guarding key facilities on the colony like the satellite towers. If they were to have any hopes of getting help they would need to liberate the control room of the facility from the Yahg's control.

"The facility is heavily guarded by approximately half a thousand Yahg," one of the scouts informed seriously. "They split up there men here, here and here leaving about 200 or so at each entrance. Now there's no way we can get in through a direct approach due to our lack of men and their superior vantage point on higher ground."

"What if we used the Mako to draw their attention from one of the entrances?" Shepard suggested.

"That wouldn't do any good," Grunt pointed out. "They'd see it coming a mile away and take it out; there's a chance that they'd be able to learn of the cavern's location if they see the direction we're coming from."

"What about here, there isn't a patrol placed on the southern border," Shepard pointed out hopefully.

"The southern border is protected by an unusual kinetic barrier: it blocks out any projectiles fired at it and kills anything organic that touches it," one of the Quarian engineers informed. Shepard looked at the area the barrier was guarding and Shepard's mind returned to his battle on Omega with Aria trying to take down Petrovsky.

"Cerberus had barriers like this set up on Omega, how did the Yahg get a hold of it?" he asked aloud.

"We don't know, but there is a bit of good news." The Quarian engineer said hopefully. "While numerous and strong these Yahg don't seem very technologically advanced, they connected the barriers to the facilities external power grid. If we can get one of our engineers to it a small team might be able to break into the facility, lower the blockers on the communications systems and call for reinforcements; then it's only a matter of surviving until they arrive."

"How far away are the towers?" Shepard asked.

"Approximately two miles from our current position," one of the Krogan scouts declared. If we want to remain undetected and avoid using the vehicles it would take about 20 minutes for a group of Krogan to sprint to the tower."

"Remember that a Quarian needs to be present with you," the engineer reminded sternly.

"Fine, at a constant scouting speed it'll probably take about 40 minutes," the scout said submissively as he accounted for the Quarian joining the group."

"How many should we send into facility?" Grunt asked strategically. "Too few and they won't stand a chance, to many and they'll be seen several miles away."

"I suggest a team of no more than 5,"Urdnot Dagg, Grunt's second in command, suggested. "Bringing at least three soldiers a biotic and one of the Quarians for the tech stuff."

"Sounds like a plan, who wants to join me and Shepard in attacking the facility?"

"Me?" Shepard asked in surprise.

"Of course," Grunt said looking at Shepard with an obvious look on his face. "We Krogan are a small army no matter the number, but you have more experience in sneaking into places and what not. Aralakh Company follows your lead battle master." Grunt then reflexively looked around to see if anyone would object to following a human; thankfully no one did, probably due to the fact that Shepard had an impressive track record even among the Krogan.

"So who's in?" Grunt asked once again, this time more roughly. The first to step forward was a Krogan wearing seemingly nothing but a cloth robe that seemed to cover his entire body except for his eyes. The only way Shepard could have told it was a man was by the deepness of his voice when he spoke.

"I volunteer to be a part of the infiltration team, I will not fail you or the team," he bowed his head to Shepard and Grunt causing the latter to nod his head in agreement. The second two Krogan stepped forward instantly, both of them covered in scars and looking as if they had been swallowed by a harvester. Their names were Kroll and Skrawl, they were brothers of clan Khel and they were the definition of Krogan soldiers: big, scary and dangerous. The head engineer of the Quarians was chosen to accompany the group and they immediately began prepping themselves before heading out. The Alliance soldiers presented Shepard with a set of armor, nothing as significant as what he had on the Normandy but it would get the job done, he was then supplied with weapons by Grunt who insisted that the limited weapons the Alliance had managed to scrounge up wouldn't pack as big a punch as Krogan weaponry. He had handed Shepard a Claymore shot gun, a Blood Pack Executioner pistol and a Striker Assault Rifle. Since each weapon had been designed to be used by Krogan they were each modified to dramatically decrease the recoil rate of the weapons, less they harmed Shepard after firing.

Shepard saw each of the Krogan except for the cloaked one arming themselves to the teeth and doubling up on all the weapons they could carry. As Shepard watched the cloaked Krogan take a single pistol he turned to Grunt with a questioning look.

"He's a Shaman," Grunt said understanding Shepard's questioning stare. "There the most powerful biotics on Tuchanka and because of that don't use weapons due to them not being as powerful as their own might."

"That strong huh?" Shepard asked impressed. Grunt chuckled as he packed several grenades into his belt.

"Oh yeah, they're about as powerful as the Matriarchs when it comes to raw power; but the Asari focus on _finesse _and _technique._ Morons." Shepard laughed as the five left the cover of the hideout and made the hour long trudge towards the satellite towers. When the towers came into sight approximately 20 minutes into the trek Grunt stopped the party and had them hide in cover behind a small grove of trees.

"Why are we stopping?" Kroll asked, obviously itching to get into a fight.

"Calm down Kroll, we need to figure out how we're going to advance undetected from here on out. Cover gets thin and if the Yahg have these fancy kinetic walls up I wouldn't doubt they have other toys to keep an eye out for us." The Quarian Engineer, whose name was Zelman Corya Vas Rannoch, nodded in agreement as he typed at his Omni-tool causing a combat drone similar to Tali's appearing beside him.

"My drone has an advanced cloak upgrade on it, it should be able to pass through undetected and find any extra security they may have left for us." Without waiting another minute the drone flew off towards the satellite towers without making a sound. After waiting about 20 minutes Kroll and Skrawl were getting fidgety when the drone returned to Zelman's Omni-tool. Zelman observed the data and chuckled to himself.

"We're in luck, aside from the kinetic barriers there's no added security beside Yahg posted on patrol. It's not necessarily a good thing seeing as there's 500 guarding the towers but we don't have to worry about hidden cameras."

"Let's move then," Shepard instructed, earning him ecstatic words of agreement from the two brothers as they continued their trek to the towers. They were silent as they passed the Yahg guarding the front and they were fortunate that the dark of night managed to hide their shadows. When they reached the rear section of the tower Shepard saw the familiar red barrier blocking off the entrance into the facility.

"Alright Zelman your up, we'll provide cover for you in case something happens," Shepard assured him. The Quarian nodded and headed to the power box under the tower while Shepard and the Krogan took defensive positions insuring that they'd be able to react if they were attacked. They all stood hidden in their positions not daring to breathe when they heard the sound of something powering down, they turned and saw Zelman appear from under the building as the barrier in front of the door disappeared. Shepard signaled for them to advance into the facility, once Kroll, Skrawl and Zelman made it in however several shots were heard aimed at them. Shepard turned to see two Yahg running towards them with incredible speed. Shepard reached for his rifle but Grunt caught his arm in mid grab, gesturing to the Shaman.

"He'll take care of it," Before Shepard could question him the Shaman glowed a brilliant blue as he lifted his arms over his head. As he did the two Yahg floated into the air as well, when he brought his arms down they were slammed into the ground hard enough for Shepard to feel the earth shake. When the Yahg didn't get up the Shaman ran past Shepard into the building followed by Grunt who shot Shepard a crooked smile as they ran to catch up with the others. They ran down hallway after hallway and hadn't run into any Yahg, but unfortunately their luck ran out. As they ran into a larger room with what looked like newly installed monitors all over the place there were also a group of Yahg manning the terminals. When they saw that the room had been invaded they immediately attacked. The group was outnumbered two to one, but seeing how the Yahg towered over the Krogan it seemed more like four to one. The Shaman threw back several Yahg into the walls and summoned am immense barrier to surround the group. A Yahg charged directly into the barrier and was shot back; the other Yahg seemed surprised by this and began firing at the barrier with what weapons they had.

"It's like they've never seen a biotic before," Skrawl commented as he pulled out his rifle and began firing at the Yahg. The group was able to quickly dispatch the Yahg into the room thanks to the Shaman's barrier but when he dropped it he staggered to one knee. Shepard rushed to his side and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" he asked. The Shaman nodded and stood up shaking his head as he spoke.

"Yes, the Yahg are heavy creatures and require more energy than other races to be dispatched. That plus there attacks on my barrier were constant and troublesome. I need but a moment and I will be fine. Shepard nodded and turned to the rest of the group.

"We're going to look around the room for a few moments, see if we can learn anything about what the Yahg are doing here. Zelman do what you can with those terminals and see if you can find what they were watching, Kroll and Skrawl you guard the door. Grunt and I will look around." As they went to their respective jobs Shepard and Grunt approached the Yahg corpses and examined them.

"Armored skin, thicker than a Krogan's," Grunt observed. "Any small caliber bullet won't even bruise their skin, means drill rounds or incendiary ammo is the way to go when fighting these guys."

"What about explosive ammo?" Shepard asked.

"I don't think so. It looks like their skin was conditioned to be resistant to explosions."

"Can they do that?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"Blood Pack does it with their Vorcha but I don't think Yahg have that kind of adaption power, or any kind of regeneration for that matter."

"So just thick skinned?"

"Looks like it,"

"Guys get over here, this isn't good," Zelman called out. Shepard approached the terminal Zelman was working at and asked what was wrong.

"It looks like the Yahg have surveillance on every inch of Mindoir that they can observe from here, watch." Zelman then began showing images of the colony and Shepard's heart dropped at the sight of his home. Buildings were destroyed; corpses of children and women on the ground and the Yahg seemed to corral the other humans who weren't dead into what was once the town hall.

"Oh my god," Shepard breathed sardonically.

"That's not the worst of it," Zelman said morbidly. He clicked one last button to show a frontal image of the cavern the alliance and survivors had been hiding in.

"Oh shit this is bad," Shepard said frantically.

"And it only gets worse; we can't call out for help from here."

"What do you mean? That was the whole point of the mission," Shepard said angrily.

"I know but think about it, they have every square inch of Mindoir under surveillance except for _this place._ The place where they were supposedly blocking communications to the outside." Shepard was able to wrap his mind around what Zelman was trying to say.

"It's a trap!" Shepard shouted angrily. He turned to the shaman and said hurriedly, "Call Aralakh Company and tell them to get out of there, the Yahg tricked us." The Shaman didn't argue and did as he was instructed, at that moment Skrawl and Kroll came running in panting heavily.

"What happened?" Shepard demanded.

"The Yahg found the bodies we left outside, they were on their way here before we slowed them down," Skrawl informed.

"We used up most of our grenades and took down the hallway leading here. It probably bought us ten minutes," Kroll informed. Shepard swore again and turned to Grunt who had holstered several of the Yahg's weapons and had rejoined the group.

"What's the plan Shepard?" he asked casually, not showing any sign of worry on his face. He had total faith in Shepard's ability to lead and knew he'd lead them out. Before Shepard had time to respond the Shaman spoke up.

"I can't contact the others, either they somehow blocked our transmitters as well or their just out of range."

"We're going to assume that they've blocked our transmissions as well," Shepard said, his commanding sense returning to him. "Here's the plan, we've got maybe ten minutes before we're over run with Yahg. Assuming they haven't attacked the Alliance base we need to warn the others that their hide away is compromised. Here's what we do: We set several explosive traps to go off the minute the Yahg make it into the room, hopefully buying us another few minutes then we make a bad break back to base, it really doesn't matter if they see us, our covers already been blown. Zelman corrupt the data on the terminal, hopefully they don't have another observation hive like this it'll help us stay off radar.

"On it, I'll need five minutes though," Zelman requested.

"You get three," Shepard ordered. He then turned to Skrawl and Kroll. "You two set the traps, use as many explosives you need to take out the majority of the oncoming Yahg; the more collateral damage the better." The two Krogan laughed menacingly.

"Collateral damage is our specialty Shepard," Kroll assured them as they removed dozens of grenades from their belt to set the trap. Shepard then turned to look at Grunt and the Shaman. "The minute there finished were going to make a mad dash for the front exit, I have absolutely no doubt that they'll have left a few hundred Yahg to guard the front the minute we exit I need you," he said gesturing to the Shaman, "You're going to have to throw up a barrier and hold it until we're clear of the Yahg, can you do that?"

"I'll die trying," the Shaman said confidently.

"The rest of us are going to have to mow our way through the Yahg blocking our exit," Shepard looked over to Grunt with a coy smile on his face. "Good thing we brought plenty of ammo, hopefully we won't need any luck." Grunt gave one of his signature laughs as the Khel brothers came running towards the group.

"We just finished the trap, it'll definitely keep our rear covered," Kroll insisted.

"Zelman are you finished yet?" Shepard asked.

"Just about… done!" with final keystroke the screen's images were replaced by static among all of the screens. As Zelman went to join the group they began to hear the heavy footsteps of the Yahg approaching, causing Kroll and Skrawl to look at one another uneasily.

"Uh we may want to get out of here," Skrawl suggested.

"Yeah, we don't want to be here when the bombs go off," Kroll added. With a nod the group ran off towards the only remaining path available to them; after only several moments of running a giant explosion went off behind them powerful enough to give a Reaper pause.

"What the hell did you do?" Zelman asked angrily as he struggled to keep straight from the explosions after effects on the building.

"Collateral damage," Kroll said with a smile as he high fived his brother. Unfortunately it was impossible for the Yahg up front not to hear the explosion, so it wasn't long until they were met by fire by the guarding Yahg. The Shaman was about to attack biotically when Shepard stopped him.

"Save your energy!" he shouted over the gunfire. The Shaman nodded as he took out his heavy pistol and began firing precise shots on the opposing Yahg. Grunt ripped off his grenade launcher and unleashed a maelstrom of explosions as he fired relentlessly on the Yahg.

"I'd like to see them get up from that!" Grunt challenged confidently. It was at that moment that he was shot in the shoulder causing him to stumble back from the impact.

"You asked," Skrawl pointed out sarcastically. Shepard ignored the Krogan's jab and examined his injured friend as the others provided cover.

"Are you alright?" Shepard asked worriedly. Grunt scowled as he reached into the wound and pulled the bullet out of his shoulder immediately dropping it onto the ground. Shepard was about to object but he saw the wound already closing thanks to his regenerative abilities.

"That almost hurt," Grunt said angrily as his eyes turned hard. As the smoke from the grenades passed they saw there were only two Yahg left standing. Tossing the launcher into the air in favor of his Claymore Grunt yelled out "COVER ME," as he ran directly for the Yahg. The Yahg had never met a foe foolish enough to charge them head on before, but they apparently had never dealt with a Krogan in blood rage either. As the others provided cover Grunt ran to the two Yahg while firing low at their knees, when one Yahg was forced to the ground Grunt tackled him head on sending him into a wall where he moved no more. Before the other Yahg could react Grunt shoved the Claymore into its mouth and fired repeatedly until the Yahg stopped moving. As the group met with Grunt Shepard noticed that the Krogan was panting heavily.

"The damn things are heavier then they look," Grunt complained as he reloaded his Claymore. "Apparently a shot to the head isn't gonna end em either."

"Good thing we brought a contingency plan," Skrawl said as he tossed bulky weapons to the crew. When Shepard caught his he noticed that it was the same weapon they had used back on Uttaku to kill the Rachni the synthetic Queen had produced. The group ran to the exit and as they ran they were immediately caught in a fire fight. The moment they exited the Shaman threw up a barrier protecting the top half of the group, leaving an opening at the bottom for the others to use their firestorms without weakening the barrier. As row after row of Yahg infantry was struck few of them were willing to fall against the intense wall of fire thrown against them. Once the team had extinguished there firestorm's reserves the Shaman immediately closed the barrier around them to protect from the intense enemy fire.

"I can't hold this for long," the Shaman warned as he shakily moved forward with his hands lifted. The team continued firing off at the Yahg but there was simply too many of them.

"How you holding out Grunt?" Shepard called out.

"Pretty good, although if one more shows up it might be a problem," the tank bred said as he threw an inferno grenade into the mass of Yahg, sending them a blaze. At that moment the group saw a light off in the distance coming directly for them, Shepard cursed assuming that the Yahg were getting reinforcements. His mood change however when the vehicle began firing upon the Yahg, managing to open up a path in the huge downpour of Yahg. Once the Mako pulled up beside the barrier the hatch opened revealing none other than Urdnot Dagg.

"Come on you Pyjaks, before they remember they outnumber us!" Not waiting for a second invitation the group hurried into the Mako where they drove off from the Yahg forces trying futilely to catch them on foot.

"What are you doing here?" Grunt asked as he gripped Dagg's hand appreciatively for the save.

"Half an hour after you left the soldiers tried to kill us," Dagg said causing Shepard to pale.

"Why would they do that? The Alliance wouldn't open fire on friendlies," he argued.

"Yeah except they aren't a part of the Alliance," Dagg declared tossing a data pad to Shepard. As Shepard looked at the pad he paled even more than before.

"Cerberus," he said angrily, squeezing the pad hard enough to almost crack the screen.

"Yeah, as soon as your squad left some of the Quarians were going through their computer plans and found out that they were Cerberus agents working for the Yahg." Dagg shook his head in disbelief at his own words. "Who'd have thought Cerberus would have been working with the Yahg."

"No one apparently," Shepard said angrily. As he continued to look through the data pad his heart stopped as he read a particular piece of info. Grunt saw Shepard's mood change from angry to sad and grew worried for his battle master.

"Shepard, what's wrong?" he asked. Shepard shook his head and handed the data pad to Grunt.

"The woman in charge of leading the Cerberus forces here is Sonya Weston," he said bitterly.

"The lawyer?" Grunt asked surprised.

"She's not a lawyer Grunt; she's one of Petrovsky's operatives. She just used the whole lawyer thing to bring me to Mindoir." Shepard laughed morbidly as he shook his head. "I shouldn't be surprised, I should have expected a trap, my dad would _never _have left me anything." Shepard was silent for a few moments before turning to Dagg.

"How many men did we lose?" he asked in a commanding tone.

"None, we managed to overpower the agents and move out all of their equipment and vehicles after the Quarian techs swept them for bugs. We managed to evacuate with most of the civilians."

"They really were civilians?" Shepard asked surprised.

"We were as surprised as you, the people said that the soldiers said they were Alliance and to follow them if they wanted to live. Some of the volunteers fought with Cerberus but the majority of them are with are group in a new hiding place. Hopefully we won't have to hide long before reinforcements come."

"Reinforcements aren't coming Dagg, it was a trap," Grunt said bluntly. Dagg seemed undisturbed by the news and turned to Shepard.

"What do we do Shepard?" he asked. Shepard looked at the Krogan in the Mako with him and took a deep breath.

"I'll tell you what we'll do," Shepard said as he opened his eyes, a green fire seeming to have lit in his brown eyes. "We're going to regroup with the rest of Aralakh Company and make Cerberus and the Yahg regret shooting our ship out of space and trying to conquer my home colony."

"Finally!" Grunt shouted out in joy as the Mako drove off to meet with the rest of their team.

AN: Hey guys I'm going camping for all of next week and while I _should_ be able to update the next chapter I might not for reasons beyond my control. So I hope to see you all next week, so until then.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 26: Hell Hath No Fury like an Asari Scorned

"I am going to kill him!" Liara said angrily as she hoisted herself out of her bed much to the dismay of Auron and her Krogan care takers. As she moved from her bedroom to the living room her personal espionage of cooks/ body guards followed her protesting her movement.

"Liara please you shouldn't be moving!" Auron pleaded desperately. "Please go back to bed,"

"I've been in that bed for 4 months not moving Auron, and I'm going to find out why John is late if I have to hire a nurse cruiser to take me to Mindoir."

"Liara please, I'm sure Johnny is just a little held up on Mindoir working out his father's will with the lawyers," Auron suggested. "And besides he's really not that late if you think about it. He immediately regretted his words when the angry, pregnant Asari turned on Auron causing him and the quartet of Krogan to flinch fearfully.

"Not too late?" Liara asked angrily. "Not _TOO _late? I told Shepard to be back in three days, THREE DAYS! And how long does he leave me waiting?"

"Well I'm sure it's not-"

"_10 DAYS!"_ She shouted angrily. "He's 10 days late Auron and not so much as a call!"

"She's worse than one of our pregnant females!" one of the Krogan said frightfully.

"Someone give her a gun and something to shoot at," another Krogan suggested.

"No you worthless Pyjacks, she's gonna decide to shoot at the regenerative Krogan in the room!" The Krogan Dorg reasoned. At that moment Liara burst into tears and began crying as she clutched at her engorged stomach.

"I should have known this would happen," Liara cried tearfully. "My father warned me about this, the minute the baby bump was noticeable he stops sleeping in the room and sleeps with some whore from Omega!" She begins wailing loudly again making all of the Krogan very uncomfortable (for nothing on their planet ever 'cries' except for infants who need to suckle their mothers) as Auron approached Liara and held her in a comforting embrace.

"Now come on Liara, we both know that Johnny would never leave you. He loves you more than anything in the galaxy."

"_THEN WHERE IS HE?!" _Liara demanded angrily scaring Auron off of her and into the arms of Dorg. At that moment there was a knock on the door causing Liara to shout angrily "WHO IS IT?" The door opened to leave a hesitant but still smiling Kaidan Alenko. At seeing Kaidan Liara's mood instantly brightened as she went to embrace him.

"Kaidan how are you? Please come in, what a surprise." As the two hugged Kaidan was very gentle as to not be to firm around Liara.

"I just got off my last assignment looking for Cerberus higher ups. Once the Normandy was plugged back into the network we got Shepard's message to help watch over you and I thought I'd stop by." He waved to Auron who gave him an uneasy and fearful wave himself while still in the arms of Dorg.

"Is Shepard around?" Kaidan finally asked, causing Auron and the Krogan to shrink in fear while Liara's mood immediately dropped.

"No he is not home!" Liara said angrily. "He left almost two weeks ago for Mindoir, so he claims, and had yet to return home. If you ask me he's off on Omega somewhere with some hooker!" At the mention of the hooker Liara burst into tears again and went over to the couch where she immediately slumped into to cry. As she continued Kaidan approached the group of terrified men and asked wearily,

"Has she been like this for a while?"

"She's been moody for about 5 months now, but only about Shepard on Mindoir for the past few days now."

"Glyph put Admiral Hackett on the line!" Liara demanded angrily no longer in tears. "I want to ask that bastard what he's done to my bond mate!"

"_Dr. T'soni I would like to point out that Shepard has had no contact with Admiral Hackett since their last conference about two weeks ago. Also I have been tasked by Shepard to question all of your decisions before allowing you access to-"_

"Glyph either put Admiral Hackett on the line or I will rewrite your software to make you no more than a floating lamp!"

"_Contacting Admiral Hackett now,"_ Glyph said immediately. In a matter of moments Admiral Hackett's form appeared on the table looking towards Liara.

"_Awe Dr. T'soni, this is a pleasant surprise, to what do I owe-"_

"Don't get all chummy with me!" Liara interrupted causing Hackett to look upon Liara with the same shocked expression as Auron and the Krogan. "I want to know what you did with my husband and I want to know NOW!"

"_Dr. T'soni I assure you I have no idea where Shepard is,"_ Hackett said in a confused tone.

"Oh really? So I'm just to assume that my husband went to Mindoir to work with his father's will then? WHATS THE HOOKER'S NAME STEVEN?" Liara said frantically as she reached to strangle Hackett but unsuccessfully going through the holograms form. However after hearing that Shepard was on Mindoir Hackett's face turned serious.

"_Mindoir has been dark for almost a month now; the Alliance hasn't had any contact with the Colony since then."_

"Why is that?" Kaidan asked coming into view.

"_Ah Captain Alenko, good to see you there. Yes, Mindoir has been dark for almost a month now, we haven't received any communications with them and they haven't sent anything off colony, whether it is communications or any of their exports."_

"Any clue to what's the problem?" Kaidan asked suspiciously.

"_Negative, I'm worried that the Colony may have been compromised and Shepard's sudden disappearance on the Colony can't be a coincidence. I know you just finished an assignment Captain but I'm sending you to Mindoir to find out what the problem is; and if Shepard's on the colony get him out of there."_

"Understood," Kaidan said with a salute.

"_Good, Hackett out."_ The moment Hackett's hologram disappeared Liara turned to Kaidan with a determined look on her face.

"I'm going with you Kaidan."

"Are you crazy?" Kaidan asked. "Liara you're pregnant, very pregnant by the looks of it. There's no way I'm taking you to a possible hazard zone."

"How are you going to stop me?" Liara demanded. When Kaidan didn't respond immediately Liara took the opportunity to make her point. "My husband could very well be in trouble, and you want to tell me I'm not allowed to go and look for him? I may not be able to fight but there are four Krogan commandos here and a former Salarian STG operative that'll accompany me as my personal guard. So whether I board the Normandy as a guest or as its kidnapper I'm _going with you."_ Kaidan looked from Liara to the apron wearing Krogan and sighed in defeat as he shook his head.

"Fine you can come, but you're staying on the Normandy and in the med bay with Dr. Chakwas the entire time. Deal?"

"We'll see," Liara said as she turned to change into something for traveling. It wasn't long until Kaidan, Liara, Auron and the four Krogan were in the Normandy's shuttle approaching the ship at high speed. When the shuttle rejoined the Normandy everyone was surprised to see that Kaidan had brought guests along with him. Not following his own instructions however Kaidan first went to the crew deck where he was met by surprised stares by the company he brought with him. Ignoring the confused chatter and whispering the group led by Kaidan approached the cockpit where Joker was lazily working the controls.

"So we have a new destination or are we just going to float lazily over Thessia?" the pilot asked uncaringly.

"We're going to Mindoir Joker, we have a new assignment."

"Already? Why the hell are we going to Mindoir?" Joker complained as he turned in his seat to face Kaidan. He froze when he saw he was accompanied with Liara and several other unfamiliar guests.

"Liara you're here… and really pregnant,"

"It's nice to see you to Joker," Liara said flatly.

"I'm guessing we have to pick Shepard up or something? Can't we just let him stay home for a few days? I need to take a nap." Joker was answered by the Krogan cocking their shotguns and assault rifles while growling suggestively at Joker.

"I hope that answers your question," Kaidan said doing his best to suppress a smile. Joker mumbled under his breath as he said they were making course for Mindoir. As soon as they left the cock pit Kaidan stopped Liara and stared her down sternly.

"You. Med bay. Now."

"Kaidan-"

"I don't want to hear it Liara," Kaidan declared. "It's for your health along with that of your child's. That and I don't want your water to break on the floors." With a defeated sigh and a small laugh Liara nodded in defeat.

"Fine I'll go, but I'm leaving Glyph up here to keep me posted."

"Whatever you want," Kaidan said as he shooed her away with a smile. Auron walked Liara to the elevator and the med bay where they were met by a smiling Dr. Chakwas.

"Liara! It's so good to see you again, please lay down here dear you must be exhausted."

"Hello Karen, it's good to see you to." Liara said with a smile.

"I must say Liara: space flight while pregnant isn't recommended as a health risk for the mother."

"You really expected me to stay at home while Kaidan looked for John?" Liara asked.

"No, but I just want you to know I've orders not to let you leave the med bay."

"And I'm making sure you don't leave," Auron said with a firm tone as he looked down at the resting Asari. Liara simply sighed as she leaned back into her seat and closed her eyes attempting to sleep for a few moments. One way or another she would get Shepard back; no matter what.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 27: Battlefront part 2

_Yahg_

The unit of Yahg was sent out into Mindoir's wilderness to search for the human called Shepard and his group of soldiers. The Clan Chieftain in charge of the attack on Mindoir was furious when he found out that their trap at their make shift observation center was a failure. If that wasn't enough they had somehow spiked their network cutting them off from their surveillance feeds on the colony; Clan Chieftain Jornock promised to reward handsomely the group that brought Shepard and his group back to their headquarters: dead or alive. He also promised to punish any group who came back empty handed. So the group of eight Yahg continued searching on foot for the escaped team and the rest of their team. They had managed to escape with the aid of one of their vehicles two days ago, while they could have gotten almost anywhere on the colony at that time there were only so many places they could have hidden, the cave they had given the Cerberus operatives to pose as a rebellion was the best place the Yahg could find. It would only be a matter of time before they eventually found where they were hiding.

The Yahg continued on until one of them froze smelling heavily into the air.

"What is it?" one of them asked in their gruntorial language as they noticed their squad mate's failure to keep up. The Yahg who had stopped didn't answer but continued sniffing the air as he began pacing in a small circle around the group. Following their trackers example the others began sniffing the air and froze when they smelt something… off. Before they could discover what it was they were taken down in a flash; an immense explosion went off in the middle of the group, not enough to hurt anyone but enough to stagger them and throw them off balance. Suddenly they were fired upon with what felt like bullets drilling into their hides, causing them to topple over and fall to the ground. Most of the group had been knocked out from the shots but one of the Yahg managed to remain conscious; he realized that the bullets fired at them were not meant to kill them but had been mixed with something to knock them out, and while he was still conscious he felt his mind still slipping away. The last thing he remembered before passing out was the figure of a large lizard looking creature looking down at him before having the butt of its weapon slam into his face knocking him out.

_Shepard_

"Alright I want an update, how are we doing Zelman?" Shepard asked the Quarian sitting across from him at the table.

"We've scoped out the area and set up some simple surveillance systems to monitor the area but it looks like the Yahg are keeping busy looking for us out in the wild where we drove off from and in the main city of Mindoir. If they get within a mile of our location we'll be ready to defend ourselves."

"It's a good thing you knew about this place Shepard." Dagg complimented from besides Zelman. "How'd you know there was a house all the way out here?" Shepard was silence for a moment before finally answering, "It's my house Dagg." Dagg frowned for a moment and was about to follow up with another question when Grunt shot his second a quieting look while shaking his head. After Shepard and his team had managed to escape thanks to Dagg's quick rescue he instructed him to meet up with the other Krogan since they were unable to communicate through their comm links. Once they had met up with everyone Shepard gave them all different directions to meet at his home in the middle of nowhere between the two major towns on Mindoir. They were safe and it gave the civilians a place to hide but they knew they wouldn't be able to stay here for long.

"How are the civilians fairing?" Shepard asked anxious to change the subject.

"The humans that were in the cave with the Cerberus operatives are scared but fine. They've made camp out in the fields where their men have a make shift perimeter guarding them," Zelman informed.

"I want a couple of our people watching them to," Shepard ordered. "Preferably Quarians so they can remain cloaked and unseen. While they haven't taken action against us I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was a Cerberus agent in disguise."

"Understood," Zelman said without question typing out his orders on his Omni-tool for someone to follow it. The Migrant Fleet had been directly attacked by Cerberus years ago and were very wary of the pro human group to the point of spying on their own people for the chance of finding a traitor.

"Shepard I'd like to point out that while we are the best of the Krogan race that there are only 30 of us here, 50 counting the Quarians. Do you really think we have a chance of beating the Yahg?" one of the Krogan at the table asked.

"We're not meeting them on the battle field," Shepard said sternly. "We don't have the man power to meet them offensively. We need to stay on the defensive and hit them with multiple small strikes to eventually weaken them until help can come for us."

"What if we can't get reinforcements Shepard?" Dagg asked.

"My people have been working nonstop to try and get in contact with Rannoch," Zelman answered. If we can get even a small signal out the Geth will be able to pick up on it and answer our call for aid."

"I've also sent in a request through more secretive means, but that will take us awhile for aid to be sent," Shepard added referring to sending an SOS through Liara's Shadow Broker networks in hopes that Feron would be able to send aid, but waiting on him to receive the message would take at least a week _if_ the message even got out. He couldn't risk the people lives for that long in hope that Feron might send aid. At that moment a Krogan covered in dirt and camouflage markings ran into the kitchen.

"Battle Master, we have returned with a unit of Yahg that were nearing our enclosure about 10 miles away," the Krogan declared speaking to Grunt.

"How many?" Grunt demanded.

"Eight, all knocked out, restrained and ready for interrogation."

"Chain them up in the basement; we'll begin the interrogations in a minute." The soldier nodded and saluted towards Grunt as he ran out of the kitchen and the others began talking nervously.

"If they sent a unit out here they'll no something went wrong when they don't return," Dagg pointed out.

"We probably have another day before they're missed, two if we're lucky." Grunt said casually. "We have that long to interrogate them for something useful and get the hell out of here and into the woods to find a new hiding spot."

"Tell everyone to get ready to move," Shepard ordered looking at the aliens at his kitchen table. He couldn't help but smile at the sight; his father was very pro human and would never have allowed aliens into his house, let alone the sit at his table. Auron was an exception since he worked for his father.

"Once we've gotten everything we can out of the Yahg were going to move out, understand?" They all agreed and got up to carry out their orders, leaving only Grunt and Shepard in the kitchen. Shepard sighed and sank back down into his seat with his head in his hands. Grunt saw his Battle Master's distress and grew worried.

"You ok Shepard?" he asked in what the Krogan would have considered a soft tone. Shepard picked his head up from his hands and shook it angrily.

"No Grunt I'm not ok. I should be at home with my wife so I can be there when she gives birth to our child; not on Mindoir fighting a war with the Yahg!" Shepard shouted the last bit as he shot up from his seat in anger. "How could I have been so stupid Grunt? Thinking that my dad actually would have left something for me. This trip could easily cost everyone their lives and it's all because I didn't know any better." Shepard laughed morbidly as he paced slightly around the kitchen.

"My own father wanted to use me as cannon fodder when the Batarians attacked, what made me think that he'd actually have given a damn about me." Shepard sighed again as he slumped into another chair with his head in his hands. Grunt shook his head and took a seat in the chair besides Shepard's. It was an awkward silence for a few minutes before Grunt finally spoke up.

"Your dad was an ass hole Shepard, at least yours took care of you," Shepard looked up at the Krogan and saw him looking sadly down at his hands. "I was bred in a tank, only getting information or survival skills I'd need to be the perfect Krogan. I never learned what it meant to be a Krogan though, or to be a father. The last one is definitely harder though." Shepard smiled weakly as he looked at the Krogan.

"I'd bet," he said in a softer tone.

"My point is," Grunt said getting back on topic, "Is that we've both got daddy issues: yours never wanted you and mine never treated me as a son, just some project to give his life meaning." Grunt looked over to Shepard and put his hand on his shoulder. "You've always been more of a father to me than Okeer ever was Shepard. You taught me what it meant to be a Krogan, you taught me what it meant to fight for something I believe in. You don't need your father's respect Shepard; you've earned the respect of almost every race in the galaxy, and mine to for what it's worth." Shepard smiled at the Krogan's compliment as he clapped his hand on Grunt's shoulder.

"That means a lot Grunt, thanks."

"You bet Shepard. Now come on! We've got some Yahg to interrogate." With a smile and a nod Shepard and Grunt rose from their seats and walked towards the stairs leading to the basement and where the Yahg were being kept in their make shift prison. As they progressed down into the basement they saw the eight Yahg strung up on the wall with chains and energy cuffs and guarded by Kroll and Skrawl, who had been a part of the group that captured the Yahg.

"Have any of them said anything?" Grunt demanded to the two Krogan. They both shook their heads before Kroll spoke up.

"They've all been unconscious since we captured them; and we know they aren't dead either, we've been checking their pulses periodically."

"I think they've had enough beauty rest don't you Shepard?" Grunt asked with a threatening smile. Shepard put on his helmet keeping his identity a secret to the Yahg before nodding to Grunt.

"Wake them up," he ordered. At his orders Skrawl and Kroll took out two massive looking knives by human standards and stuck them both into the Yahg that hung between them. Apparently this was a tender area because the Yahg immediately began to howl out in pain as it attempted to break through its restraints.

"Calm him down," Shepard ordered the two. Kroll nodded and slammed the butt of his pistol into the Yahg's face causing him to look from the knives in his chest to the two Krogan on each side of it to the human and Krogan standing in front of him. It didn't speak but the moment it had calmed down Shepard took the initiative to speak first.

"You're a Yahg, a newly arrived sentient race of Citadel Space. You haven't been flying space ships for a year yet and you're already picking a fight that you don't have any hope of winning."

"You assume much if you believe we are unprepared," the Yahg said coldly in an obviously male voice, surprising the Krogan and Shepard in that it understood what Shepard said.

"You speak English." Shepard stated, not making it a question.

"Yes, along with every other major language in your so called _Citadel Space,_" the Yahg said tauntingly.

"How?" Shepard demanded. The Yahg merely growled and struggled in his restraints.

"You are a fool if you believe I will tell you anything," The Yahg growled. Shepard frowned from behind his helmet and made a gesture towards Kroll, who responded by twisting one of the knives in the Yahg's chest viciously causing it to roar out in pain.

"I think you'll find me to be very persuasive," Shepard said threateningly.

"I think you will find me a hard shell to crack, as you humans say."

"Is that a fact?" Shepard asked. When the Yahg didn't answer Shepard turned to Grunt who took his silent cue and approached the Yahg restrained farthest from the one that was awake and took out another knife equally as nasty looking as Kroll and Skrawl's.

"I like to think of myself as a simple man," Shepard said as he began pacing in front of the Yahg. "I'm going to make this extremely simple for you: I will ask you a question, and you are going to answer my question with little problem. If you decide you don't want to answer my questions you will be punished severely."

"I am not afraid of pain human," the Yahg said defiantly.

"But do you fear for your men?" Shepard asked. The Yahg turned to Grunt and saw him trace the dull end of a knife over the unconscious Yahg's throat. The Yahg seemed to pale slightly at the notion.

"You would kill someone in cold blood?" the Yahg asked in a tone that sounded like restrained anger.

"No I wouldn't," Shepard admitted, causing the Yahg to sag in momentary relief. "But my friend over there has no problem with it." The Yahg stiffened again as Grunt chuckled menacingly as he continued to fiddle the unconscious Yahg's face with his knife. While the Yahg was distracted Shepard spoke up.

"My first question: Who is in charge of the attack?" the Yahg was silent as he stared angrily at Shepard for what seemed an eternity to Shepard. When Shepard realized the Yahg wouldn't speak he cursed silently and made a gesture to Grunt. Grunt flipped the blade around wordlessly and quickly cut through the Yahg's neck. The Yahg awoke when the blade made contact with his neck and he began to struggle to escape the slice, unfortunately for him Grunt worked the blade perfectly and managed to slice his neck with little problem. As the Yahg began to gasp his dying breaths Shepard closed his eyes and resisted the urge to hurl, not at all enjoying the brutal violence he was forced to invoke. As the Yahg who had been cut stiffened and moved no more Shepard repeated the question without opening his eyes.

"I'm going to ask you again; WHO is in charge of the attack?" When Shepard didn't hear the Yahg reply he cursed again silently and said to Grunt, "Slit the next one's throat,"

"Wait," the Yahg said. As it spoke Shepard opened his eyes and saw that the Yahg seemed disturbed, an emotion he wasn't expecting from him. "The one leading the attack is Clan Chieftain Jornock." Shepard sighed in relief as he gestured for Grunt to relax.

"Is Jornock your main ruler?" Shepard asked.

"No," the Yahg answered much to Shepard's relief. "Clan Chieftain Jornock leads one of many clans on Parnack; similarly to how there are many Krogan clans on Tuchanka." The Yahg's words brought pause to Shepard and the other Krogan. _How does he know about life on Tuchanka?_ Shepard thought to himself. When he asked the Yahg he merely growled and moved in his restraints before answering.

"Before we were allowed to leave we were instructed of the multitude of races in your Citadel Space along with several others that remain pre space flight at the moment. Asari, Krogan, Human, Turian, Espheni; your races are not strangers of the Yahg Empire."

"And what is it that the Yahg Empire wants?" Shepard demanded.

"That depends on how far you're looking ahead. Our goal is complete Galactic Conquest, to take our place as ruler in the Cosmic Imperative." Shepard recognized the Yahg's use of the word Cosmic Imperative; it was how Javik explained how the Protheans took control over the lesser species of their time.

"That's the way of life the Protheans lived by eons ago," Shepard informed the Yahg who merely shrugged at the bit of information.

"We learned of this way of life from an ancient ruin on Parnack, many eons ago we were visited by what you call Protheans and they taught us how to hunt and fight. We have advanced off those teachings since then."

"And you believe the Yahg to be the next rightful rulers of the Galaxy after the Protheans?" Shepard asked with a small smile forming on his face.

"It was decidedly so." Shepard couldn't help but laugh at the Yahg causing him to look menacingly at Shepard.

"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but the Protheans chose the Asari to succeed them and even they weren't able to rule completely."

"Then we will succeed where they failed," the Yahg said simply. Shepard frowned as he turned back to the Yahg.

"Why are you on Mindoir?" Shepard asked.

"We were told to attack the colony to draw out the bulk of the Alliance; we did as we were told."

"Then why attack Mindoir?" Shepard demanded. "It's one of our smaller colonies and is farthest from any Alliance patrols. Why choose to attack Mindoir?"

"Tell them nothing!" a voice said. Everyone turned to see that one of the other Yahg had awakened and regained consciousness. "Tell them nothing Clan brother, leave them to their doom!"

"Silence him," Shepard instructed. Grunt nodded and took his knife out and swiftly cut the Yahg down its arm. The Yahg screamed in pain before Grunt finally ended his suffering by slitting the Yahg's throat. Shepard sighed again before turning towards the Yahg from before who was now glowering with anger.

"You wish to know why we attacked Mindoir?" it asked angrily. "I will tell you. We came to capture you, _Commander_." He said the last word with such venom that Grunt and the other Krogan drew their pistols and pointed them at the captured Yahg. Shepard stared at the Yahg for a moment with hard eyes before removing his helmet showing his face to the Yahg.

"You know who I am?" Shepard asked coldly.

"Oh yes, very much so," the Yahg said coldly.

"What do you want with me?" Shepard demanded.

"It's not a matter of want; it's a matter of what needs to be done." When Shepard looked confused by the Yahg's words he continued his rant. "As the man who was responsible for destroying the Reapers you could easily have rallied the other races to fight off the Yahg and put us in a galactic stalemate for years. With you gone it would be easy for us to conquer not only your race but all of them. Take off the head and the body goes down with it."

"I'm going to ask you one more question and this is the most important," Shepard said sternly not wavering at all from the Yahg looking down at him. "The Reapers, the other races, I want to know how you know about everything you've been talking about. Has Cerberus given you information in exchange for aid as their foot soldiers?" The Yahg snarled and jumped at Shepard, the restraints barely able to hold him from killing Shepard.

"Listen to me and listen well Shepard," the Yahg said angrily as he growled at him. "The Yahg will never willingly serve another race least of all humans. We knew about Cerberus before their leader approached our leader on Parnack. They came to us begging for help and we have given it to them our way. They also asked how we knew what we know and I will tell you what are Chieftain told them: it is no concern of yours." Shepard and the Yahg stared at one another for several minutes before Shepard looked away from the group of Yahg and looked over to Grunt.

"Have someone take them outside and finish them off," he said solemnly.

"You got it," Grunt said obligingly. Before Shepard left the basement the Yahg called out to him.

"I want you to know something Commander," the Yahg said menacingly. "The two Yahg you just killed, both of them had families while the second was my brother." While Shepard was surprised by the Yahg's words he didn't get a chance to speak before the Yahg continued. "I promise you right now Shepard that I will have my revenge for your senseless killing of my clan, and when I do I want you to know the name of the one who ruins you. My name is Moreck Jornock, and I will be your eminent downfall." Shepard didn't say anything else to the Yahg named Jumba; he stared at him for several seconds before limping away back up the stairs. He would never have admitted it to anyone, but the Yahg terrified him. As he and Grunt made it upstairs Kroll, Skrawl and several other Krogan were hauling the remaining Yahg up the stairs and outside to finish them off. As Shepard took a deep breath to calm himself he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You ok Shepard?" Grunt asked worriedly.

"Yeah Grunt, it was just… difficult that's all."

"What do you mean?" Shepard walked back into the kitchen with Grunt close behind as he explained himself. "Hearing that those Yahg had families, that didn't disturb you at all?"

"No," Grunt said simply. Shepard gave a morbid laugh as he shook his head and pulled out a map on the kitchen table.

"I wish I had your strength sometimes Grunt, god knows I need it." Before Grunt could reply Kroll came running in to the kitchen with a gaping wound on his shoulder that seemed to smoke as it slowly healed its self.

"Shepard, we've got a problem." Shepard paled as he silently pleaded the inevitable wouldn't have happened.

"What is it?" Grunt demanded.

"Moreck escaped,"


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 28: Battlefront part 3

Kroll led Shepard and Grunt out to where five Yahg bodies lied dead followed by two wounded Krogan on the ground struggling to stand.

"What happened?" Grunt demanded to Skrawl who was helping get the injured Krogan on their feet.

"The Yahg Moreck stole the gun when it was his turn to be taken out, we never expected him to move so fast. He shot those two and Kroll and he kneed me in the quad."

"Do we have any idea where he is?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"He went east, towards one of the major cities." Kroll informed.

"My bet is that he's off to alert his leader where we are," Grunt said disgruntled as he looked out towards the civilians out in the fields. "We're not safe here anymore Shepard," he warned warily. Shepard didn't say anything but looked out into the distance for a moment while his thoughts were forming. After several seconds he shot back into attention and looked at Grunt.

"Find Zelman and Dagg and have them meet me in the kitchen, we have work to do." In seconds the people Shepard had sent for were talking frightfully in the kitchen trying to come up with a plan, once Shepard walked in the chatter died down.

"Alright, our location has been compromised; one of the Yahg we had imprisoned managed to escape and is heading east to where they must have their main base stationed, or at least a major one. Any ideas?"

"It's no longer safe here," Zelman said worriedly. "We need to rally the civilians and find another place to hide until reinforcements arrive."

"Have you reached Rannoch yet?" Shepard asked hopefully.

"We've sent out what signals we could, it's in the Ancestors hands now."

"Who know how long it will take for help to come though," Dagg said abrasively. "I say we bunker down and fight these Yahg bastards with a little home field advantage. We get the men from the civilians to bolster our ranks and send the women and children into hiding."

"We would be slaughtered in a matter of minutes!" Zelman shouted angrily. "We have no home field advantage and the men amongst the civilians have never been in combat. They'd be a hindrance instead of helpful."

"Why don't we just hunt down the Yahg?" Grunt suggested. "Kill him before he reached the city and send his corpse to their leader as an example.

"I have a better idea," Shepard said calmly. When he was sure he had everyone's attention he stated his plan. "This Yahg, Moreck, was just captured and brought to our location. He's going to want to go to whoever is in charge of the attack and tell him where we were hiding so they can track us."

"What's your point?" Dagg asked suspiciously.

"He couldn't have gotten that far ahead of us, I say a team takes one of the ground vehicles and beats him to the city and kidnaps whoever is in charge. You saw how he reacted when Grunt killed men who were his equals, imagine how the entire invasion would act if we had their leader."

"They'd submit and follow our demands," Zelman said excitedly.

"How big a team would we bring Shepard, we don't exactly blend in with the natives here," Grunt pointed out.

"We're going to need a big team; something tells me stealth won't really be an option here."

"What about the civilians?" Zelman asked.

"We send them out in the woods with the remaining ground vehicles and the majority of our forces. The Yahg will follow their trail and take a large percentage of their men with them to track us down, making it easier for the infiltration team to kidnap the leader."

"You want to use civilians as bait?" Zelman asked incredulously. "That's a monstrous thing to do,"

"Shepard's right though, it's our best chance getting to break into the city."

"I want nothing to do with this plan," Zelman stated firmly.

"Zelman we don't have a lot of options," Shepard argued. "We can't just sit here and do nothing while the Yahg are closer and closer to wiping us out. If we can kidnap their leader fast enough then the civilians won't be at any risk. But we need to move fast." Zelman was obviously distraught over the decision but reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"Very well Admiral, we'll do things your way."

"Who's going to go into the city Shepard?" Grunt asked expectantly. After a moment of thinking Shepard listed off the group he'd take.

"Along with myself Grunt, Dagg, Kroll, Skrawl, the Shaman and several Quarians. Zelman will you join us?"

"No Admiral, I would rather stay and do what I can to protect the civilians."

"Very well, I want you to hand pick who will come along on this mission, also were going to need comm links that haven't been blocked by the Yahg. We leave in 10 minutes so gear up everybody." It wasn't long until everyone was ready and loaded into the Mako. Zelman had picked three young and abled men from the Quarians to join the attack and Shepard could tell that they were nervous. As soon as the vehicle was loaded they immediately drove east taking every necessary precaution to remain undetected.

"So how are we gonna play this out Shepard?" Grunt asked as he cleaned his Claymore. It was a very tight squeeze for the group in the Mako but no one seemed ready to stop Grunt from cleaning his gun.

"Zelman set up devices around the proximity of the house if anyone approached them, once they go off Zelman will alert us and we'll head into the city. Hopefully we should be in and out in no more than two days."

"So what are we supposed to do until Zelman gives us the ok?" Dagg asked.

"We stay in the Mako so that its cloaking mechanics can keep us hidden." The group looked around uneasily for a few minutes when Grunt raised his hand with a question.

"What if we have to pee?" The ride to the city took only a couple of hours; they parked the vehicle several miles away from the city and waited for Zelman's call. It ended up taking the remainder of the day and most of the night when Zelman finally called the team.

"_Shepard it's me, our sensors just went off detecting a large group of Yahg approaching the house."_

"Are you and the others safe?" he asked.

"_Yes, we're hiding out in an abandoned factory about 10 miles away, we're giving the civilians' time to rest before we move again."_

"Good, Shepard out." Shepard looked to his team and gave them an affirmative nod. "Alright team let's move out." The team exited the Mako and quickly made their way toward the city, careful to avoid the few patrols that were still on schedule. In half an hour they managed to infiltrate the city undetected and take cover in an abandoned building while they planned their next step.

"Now what Shepard?" Grunt asked expectantly. Shepard looked over to the three Quarians and asked which of them were infiltrators. Two of them raised their hands as Shepard nodded approvingly.

"I want you two to look around and find the building with the most guards; chances are the Yahg leader will be there or it's something important we can sabotage." The young Quarians nodded and both of them immediately cloaked and exited the building in a rush. Moments later the group heard them over their comm links.

"_Shepard, we found one building guarded by several Yahg out front. It appears to be the city hall or something."_

"Well done, remain hidden and await further instruction." Shepard turned to the others who were eagerly waiting for their orders.

"We're going to split up into two teams to cover more ground. Dagg, Kroll, Skrawl and the Shaman will go in through the back entrance; Grunt, the three Quarians and I will go in through the front once the guards are dispatched."

"What if we get lost in the building?" the Shaman asked.

"The building isn't that large, only one story. Worst case scenario we just meet outside if we can't find one another."

"Understood," Dagg said taking command of the second group. The Krogan silently ran out of the building towards the back while Grunt turned to look towards Shepard.

"So how are we going to get passed the guards? Direct approach?" Shepard pondered the suggestion but smiled when a better idea came to mind.

"Remember back on Omega when we were helping Garrus take out the merc squads?"

"Yeah,"

"Remember what you did to the progressing Eclipse soldiers?" Grunt smiled a devilish grin at the memory and nodded excitedly. The three made their way out of the building and silently approached the building guarded by two Yahg. As they took cover behind several knocked over vehicles the other two Quarians appeared besides them.

"How are we supposed to get in there?" one of them asked worriedly. Shepard ignored the question and turned to look at Grunt. "Get into position and call me when you're ready." Without a word Grunt nodded and ran off into the night to get where he was needed. After several minutes of silent waiting Grunt's voice was heard over the comm link.

"_Grunt calling Shepard, I'm in position and ready for it to rain,"_

"Copy that Grunt, here comes the rain," Shepard grabbed several smoke grenades from his belt and tossed them fluidly over the car and directly in front of and besides the two Yahg guarding the door. When they activated the Yahg looked around frantically for whoever had thrown them but to no avail. While Shepard couldn't see what was happening he had an excellent idea of what was happening when he heard one of the Yahg yelp in both surprise and pain. When the smoke cleared both of the Yahg were on the ground hogtied and unconscious with a slightly bruised Grunt sitting atop the larger of the two. Shepard approached with a smile on his face as he clasped the Krogan's hand.

"Figured we should keep em alive, to make an example out of them. Sound like a plan Shepard?"

"Yeah, but later Grunt. We have bigger fish to fry right now." With a nod the five soldiers entered the building and quickly began searching for Clan Chieftain Jornock. It only took them a few minutes of searching though for them to realize that the building was empty.

"I don't get it, why would the Yahg guard an empty building?" one of the Quarians asked. Shepard nodded in agreement as he put his hand to the communicator in his ear.

"Dagg this is Shepard, have you guys found anything yet?"

"_Negative: the damn place is completely empty!"_ Dagg replied angrily.

"I smell something wrong here Shepard, you would have thought we'd have seen more than two guards guarding where their leader would be holed up." Grunt said suspiciously. Before Shepard could add his two sense the building shook violently causing the Quarians to fall to the ground while Shepard and Grunt struggled to keep standing.

"The hell was that?" Grunt said angrily as he tried leaning on the wall for support.

"Dagg report! What's happening?"

"_Hell if I know Shepard! I didn't think colonies could even get Earthquakes."_

"It's another trap," Shepard said angrily. He slammed his fist into the nearest wall leaving an impressive dent as he cursed angrily. "DAMN IT!" That's the third time these bastards have tricked us." One of the Quarians finally managed to get up and was stumbling as he approached Shepard.

"Admiral we need to get out of here, there's no telling what the Yahg have pl-AHHH" the Quarian was interrupted as he was shot in the side by a nasty bulled that made the side of his stomach explode on contact. The Quarian was brought to the ground where he aimlessly groped the side of his body that once held skin. Shepard turned and fired blindly, successfully hitting the Quarians attacked and causing him to take cover. Shepard knelt down to the Quarian and tried to put the wounded soldier on his shoulder for support.

"Come on soldier, we'll get you out of here." Shepard assured the young Quarian.

"Admiral leave me, it's too late for me."

"Don't say that!" Shepard ordered.

"If the wound doesn't kill me the infection surely will. Leave me and… save…. your….. selves," The Quarian went limp in Shepard's grasp causing Shepard to put the young soldier down in silence. Shepard cursed the situation as he heard Grunt firing at what could only be taken as approaching Yahg.

"Shepard we need to get out of here, there sending some brave ones in and I don't know how long I can hold them." Shepard didn't say anything but silently rose from the ground where he looked down at the Quarian soldier regretfully.

"Keelah Selai," he said silently before looking back to the others in his group. "We're getting the hell out of here," he said with more determination then he felt. Just then the wall farthest of them was knocked down, reflexively Shepard and Grunt aimed their guns at the sound but lowered them at seeing Kroll and Skrawl in the newly made hole.

"Told you this would be faster," Kroll said chastising his brother.

"Come on Shepard we gotta go!" Skrawl said ignoring his brother's jibe. "The Yahg are surrounding the building, if we don't hurry we'll be over run!"

"You heard the man! LET'S MOVE!" The group ran out through the wall, taking down any Yahg that tried to stop them (or at least preventing them for moving for a time being) as they made their way out the building where they met up with the rest of Dagg's group.

"We already called and warned Zelman, he's moving the civilians somewhere safe." He informed them as they ran to the Mako.

"Where are they?" Shepard asked.

"He didn't say, just in case the communication feeds are being tapped into, but he insured me that everyone would be safe." As they approached the area they parked the Mao they were shot back by the vehicles sudden explosion. As everyone haggard back into a standing position Dagg assessed the situation.

"Well that sucks more than Thresher Maw shit! We're sitting ducks, how the fuck are we supposed to get out of here now?" Suddenly a trio of Yahg ran towards the group in a dangerous charge.

"With guns a blazing," Grunt said with a scowl. The team fired at the Yahg hoping to slow them down; unfortunately all they seemed to do was make them angry. Kroll and Skrawl jumped atop the closest one causing it to lose balance and get into a two on one wrestling match with the Krogan; Grunt, Dagg and Shepard continued firing at the Second Yahg, managing to wound his leg before progressing. The Shaman and remaining Quarians set off a combination of biotic and tech explosions bringing the third Yahg down almost instantly. As soon as the other two Yahgs were defeated the Omni-tools of the two Quarians began going off.

"Is there a problem?" Shepard asked worriedly as he popped a fresh clip into his gun.

"No good news actually the Geth are-"At that moment a jet of gunfire came from behind and killed both the Quarians. The Shaman managed to erect a barrier around the rest of the group but it was obvious that he was straining to keep it up against the endless tirade of bullets.

"Hold your fire!" a female voice called out from the distance. As the shooting stopped a human woman dressed in Cerberus armor approached the barrier surrounded by at least 20 Yahg. Shepard recognized the woman immediately and had to fight the urge to shoot her through the barrier.

"You," Shepard spat with such venom that the woman almost looked worried. Almost.

"Admiral Shepard, I'm glad to see that you made it to Mindoir," the woman said sounding almost sincere.

"I'm sure you are Ms. Weston, if that is your real name anyways," Shepard said with a snarl.

"It is," Sonya said simply, annoying Shepard even more, as she approached only inches away from the barrier.

"I have to say Admiral, you and your team of aliens have made quite a bit of trouble the few days you've been on Mindoir, the Clan Chieftain is both impressed and enraged by your progress.

"Well you know me, I can't hear anything about Cerberus involvement and not want to blow something up," Shepard said angrily.

"We've noticed. But as you can see you are surrounded and no longer have any chance to escape."

"You think so?" Shepard asked.

"I know so, especially since we know where your hiding the civilians," Shepard's face paled as a knowing smile appeared on Sonya's face. "I come with a onetime offer Shepard: come with us voluntarily and we leave the civilians alone. Refuse and we destroy this barrier, drag you with us and kill the civilians."

"You'd kill human civilians? Has Cerberus sunk so low that it won't even protect humanity anymore?"

"What we're doing is for the greater good of humanity Shepard," Sonya said angrily. "I don't expect you to understand, siding with aliens over humans."

"Says the woman surrounded by Yahg," Shepard said dismissively. Sonya scowled and pointed at Shepard.

"I've given you your choices Admiral, now choose!" Shepard scowled angrily as he looked at the Krogan in his team. He knew that each one of them would willingly fight to the death with the Yahg surrounding them, he also knew that the Krogan and Quarians guarding the civilians would be able to put up a fight, but for how long.

"One condition," Shepard said straight forwardly. "You take me and me alone and let my team go free."

"What?" Grunt said angrily. "Shepard are you crazy?"

"I've been called worse," Shepard said agreeably.

"You know they're going to kill you right? Don't do this!"

"Grunt trust me, I know what I'm doing," he turned to Sonya and gave her a hard unwavering stare. "Do we have a deal or not?" he demanded.

"Deal," she said simply. "But you're to leave your weapons behind." Shepard removed the weapons on him along with his grenades and turned to the Shaman.

"Lower the barrier for me," he ordered. The Shaman opened a small doorway for Shepard to exit and shut it behind him after he left.

"A wise decision," Sonya said approvingly, she then led Shepard through the group of Yahg to their transport vehicle, a giant machine that seemed capable of carrying hundreds of Yahg at once. When they were all seated in the vehicle it roared to life and drove off at impressive speeds. They drove in silence for a time with Sonya looking smugly at Shepard from time to time. Shepard retained a hard look until Sonya said something that sent him over the edge.

"You know Shepard; if we had known it would be that easy to get you to fall for a trap we'd have played the 'loving father card' years ago." Shepard tightened his fists in anger and they momentarily glowed green, much to the surprise of Sonya and himself. Before either of them had time to act the vehicle was thrown off the road and flew for several seconds before falling back to the ground hard, causing injuries to a majority of the Yahg riding the vehicle. Sonya and Shepard seemed unharmed, until the back door to the vehicle was ripped off its hinges. Shepard's first reaction was that Grunt had come after him, but he wasn't in any way expecting a Geth Prime to be standing in the doorway armed with a Plasma Shotgun and surrounded by several Geth Soldiers.

"_You are to relinquish Admiral Shepard into our custody immediately,"_ the Prime said threateningly as the soldiers cocked their weapons in agreement.

"You're outnumbered," Sonya said through gritted teeth. The Geth Soldiers opened fire immediately _into _the truck, but surprisingly successfully hit only the Yahg in the vehicle leaving Sonya alone with Shepard and at least 20 Yahg corpses.

"_We are no longer threatened, relinquish the Admiral this minute."_ Not waiting for Sonya to approve of the order Shepard crawled over the Yahg corpses to stand beside the Geth.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you guys," Shepard sad relieved.

"_We received Creator Zelman's call for help. We were aboard a ship in the area and came to provide aid," _the Prime said kindly towards Shepard. It then refocused on Sonya and seemed to hum violently.

"_What do you wish to be done with the Cerberus operative?"_ it asked. Shepard eyed Sonya angrily as she looked towards them defiantly.

"Normally I would say to detain her and bring her to the Alliance for questioning," Shepard explained.

"_Understood," _the Prime said.

"But this time Cerberus went too far," Shepard said angrily. "And she was the ringleader of the trap that brought me here." He looked over to the Prime unit and said in a cold uncaring voice, "I leave her fate in your hands, do with her as you wish." Before Sonya could protest the Prime shot her directly in her head, dropping her to the ground amidst the pile of Yahg bodies.

"_Data shows that 98% of Cerberus leaders will betray their captors at a time of convenience to them, it is proven that killing her would simplify things for the future of the Alliance."_

"I agree," Shepard said silently. After a moment he looked back up at the Prime Unit.

"You said that your ship was in the area?"

"_Correct, unfortunately it is only a supply ship that was heading towards Rannoch; there are not many platforms aboard the ship and none of the creators."_

"How many platforms do you have?" Shepard asked.

"_Approximately 50 soldier units, 25 engineers and this single Prime unit. We were not stocked in platforms for the readiness of battle, simply enough to defend ourselves and to make exterior repairs."_

"Can you give us a ride off of Mindoir?" Shepard asked.

"_Yes, I can send for a shuttle at your request Admiral,"_

"SHEPARD!" a familiar voice shouted. Shepard and the Geth turned to see Grunt along with the other Krogan close behind rushing towards them. At their approach Grunt clasped Shepard on the shoulder. "HA! You're gone for 20 minutes and you summon giant robots to help, classic Shepard," Grunt said approvingly.

"We got lucky is all," Shepard said modestly. He then turned to the Prime unit. "We still have work to do here on Mindoir, would you and your… team? Would you be willing to fight with us?" The Prime unit was silent for a moment as its face flaps moved while it was in thought.

"_I have just found the life suits of 3 dead creators, was it the Yahg and Cerberus who killed them?"_ it asked solemnly. Shepard nodded sadly. "I'm sorry, there wasn't anything we could do."

"_Understandable, I will alert the Admiralty board of their decease. As for our aid Admiral, you have it. We will fight for the fallen creators that died due to the Yahg and Cerberus threatening your home."_

"Then let's get ready, we have a colony to take back."


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 29: The Cavalry Arrives

"So what's the plan Shepard?" Grunt asked as the group was now prepping their weapons for the attack against the Yahg. Shepard turned to the Prime unit who looked down at him ready to answer his question.

"That truck you found me in, can you repair it to make it look like how it was?"

"_Yes, damage to the truck was minimal and would take less than an hour for our engineers to repair it."_

"Good get it done," Shepard instructed. He then turned to the group of Krogan looking at him expectantly. "Here's the plan," Shepard started. "Once the truck is fixed we, along with any soldiers the Geth our willing to spare, fit into the truck and drive it into where the Yahg are waiting for us. Once we're in the middle of their compound we jump out guns blazing and kill anyone that gets in our way."

"I like this plan," Kroll said as his brother nodded in agreement. "Simple and easy to remember."

"The only Yahg we need to be on the lookout for though is Clan Chieftain Jornock and bring him to the Council."

"Why?" Dagg asked. "Wouldn't be easier just to kill the bastard?"

"Think of the information we could get from him though, if we can bring in one of their leaders we might be able to get information out of him over time, information we desperately need."

"But how will we know which Yahg is the Clan Chieftain?" the Shaman asked.

"_If I may,"_ the Prime Unit interrupted gaining him everyone's attention. "_I was able to successfully send in several of my programs to infiltrate Cerberus's computer feeds upon entry to the colony. They have images of several of the Yahg's Clan Chieftains along with other information that will be of use for our mission."_

"That's great!" Shepard exclaimed excitedly. "So what does Jornock look like?" The Geth raised his right hand and a holographic image of a Yahg with blue skin and black face markings appeared looking back at them.

"So he's in charge of the attack is he?" Shepard said angrily.

"_Correct,"_ The Prime said. "_According to Cerberus records he is in charge of one of the larger clans on Parnack, and is well respected for his strength in conquering other clans to join his. This is reportedly his first strike on another race."_

"Hopefully it will be his last," Shepard said determinedly. "How long until your other soldiers get here?" he asked. The Prime lowered his hand and looked up to the sky for several seconds while his face flaps moved in thought.

"_Would you mind taking ten steps back Admiral?"_ Without question Shepard did as he was asked and the moment he took his tenth step dozens of metal pods fell from the sky directly in front of him and the Krogan, causing them to jump in surprise. Once the dust was settled they realized that they weren't pods but Geth who had fallen from where ever their ship hung from. They quickly rose to their feet and looked towards Shepard who was still in shock from the sudden drop.

"_We are ready to assist Admiral,"_ the Soldier in front said to Shepard.

"Then let's not waste any more time," he declared. True to its words the Geth Engineers were able to repair the truck in about 36 minutes, making it look as if the Geth had never striked. As soon as it was finished Shepard, the five Krogan, the Prime unit, 30 soldiers and 10 engineers loaded up into the truck. The remaining soldiers and engineers were instructed to meet up with the rest of Aralakh Company and help in defending the citizens. When everyone got into the back of the truck Grunt made an astute observation.

"Wait, if we're all in the back of the truck whose driving this thing?" The team looked at one another and then to whoever was sitting in the driver's seat, which revealed to them a Yahg killed due to the crashing of the truck.

"What happens if they look into the front seat to?" Kroll asked.

"_The truck is equipped with an auto pilot driving system, if a program is put into its software I can drive the car without arousing suspicion."_ The Prime suggested.

"That'll work, now someone look for a Yahg corpse without too many bullet holes." It took several minutes of searching but they managed to find a Yahg whose bullet holes were easily coverable and put it in the driver seat. Once everyone was set the Prime unit infiltrated the cars auto pilot software with one of its programs and started the car. As they drove off no one said a word, too anxious for the fight that would break out when they arrived. As they drove all the organics jumped as they heard a human voice come from the trucks radio.

"_Oncoming truck please identify yourself."_ Before anyone could think of something to say the Prime spoke up in a familiar female voice.

"_This is Sonya Weston proceeding on route with the prisoners,"_

"_Yeah you got them? All right I'll alert the guards to let you pass, well done Sonya."_ Shepard sighed in relief as he looked up to the Prime.

"I'm glad you're on our side," he said thankfully.

"_Your appreciation is gratefully accepted Admiral, but the time for pleasantries is not the current moment. We are, as you humans say, not out of the woods yet."_ The Prime was right; they may have passed through the gate without an incident but the moment they made it to wherever the Prime was leading them they knew they would be met by nothing but resistance. Nobody moved or said anything in the truck, whether by nervousness or worry of being found out by anyone outside, even Grunt was unusually quiet which caused Shepard to inhale deeply hoping to calm his nerves. Suddenly the truck stopped abruptly causing everyone to look at the Prime unit questioningly. Shepard activated his Omni-tool and quickly typed a message for the Prime to read.

'Are we there?'

The Prime looked at the message and raised his hand as words appeared floating over his hand.

'We are here.'

Suddenly the group heard voices from outside as they approached the truck; Shepard cocked his gun readying himself as did the other members of Aralakh Company. The minute the door was opened was when all hell broke loose. The Yahg who opened the trucks door stood in shock at the sight in the cargo hold as all eight of his eyes widened in shock. Before he could say anything Grunt aimed his Claymore and fired at the Yahg's head, knocking him off his feet and hopefully killing him.

"ATTACK!" Shepard yelled enthusiastically, earning him a vicious war cry from the Krogan as they exited the truck followed by the Geth Soldiers. As Shepard got out of the truck he heard the sound of the truck breaking, he turned around to see that the Prime unit had broken the upper half of its body through the roof and was now firing at any Yahg in its sight while still driving the truck, making him a personal tank. Shepard didn't have time to marvel as he was rushed at by several Cerberus troopers who were running at him with guns raised. He threw a Cluster Grenade at the group immediately killing them and freeing him up to advance. As he proceeded he realized that even with the Geth's help and the majority of the Yahg forces looking for civilians they were still outnumbered at least 3 to 1 not including the Cerberus soldiers. Shepard approached Grunt who was standing over a Yahg who seemed to have been badly burned, at seeing his approach Grunt gestured for them to continue as they began to run.

"What now Shepard?" Grunt asked readily.

"We need to find a Yahg with blue skin and black facial markings, and then we need to keep everything off of us as we wait for the Geth to send down a shuttle." At that moment Grunt pulled a 180 and shot at two Yahg that had been attempting to flank them. As they stumbled they were picked up and thrown into a wall. The two turned and saw the Shaman with his hands raised and glowing from the attack.

"Nice throw!" Shepard complimented. The Shaman nodded and pointed up the stairs.

"I think Jornock is up there, he seemed to be trying to escape."

"Let's not give him a chance then, Shepard said confidently. The three ran up the stairs and quickly dispatched any Yahg or Cerberus trooper that tried to get in their way. As they burst into the room the Shaman saw Jornock hide in they froze when they saw the size of the Yahg. He easily hovered several feet over the other Yahg they had seen and was easily twice as thick. He held two modified and extremely large M-11 Wraith Shotguns and were aiming them at Shepard and his group.

"Give it up Jornock, your outnumbered."

"Hardly," the Yahg said. "Numbers do not frighten the Yahg, only strength matters."

"Drop your weapons and call off the attack on the colony and we'll see to you being treated kindly by the council," Shepard offered.

"I have a better idea," Jornock said as he cocked the two shotguns at the same time. "DIE," he fired the massive guns at the trio, Shepard and Grunt jumped out of the way while the Shaman erected a barrier. Unfortunately when the rounds made contact they went through the barrier and hit the Shaman in the shoulder and the gut bringing him to the ground in pain.

"Upgraded warp rounds," the Yahg explained after seeing Shepard and Grunts look of shock at seeing the Shaman taken down. "Powerful enough to rip through almost any barrier as you've just seen." Grunt growled angrily and roared as he charged Jornock with his shotgun raised. Before he got to close the Yahg took the butt of one of his guns and smacked Grunt in the face with it, causing him to lose balance and giving Jornock enough time to follow up with a quick crack behind his head knocking Grunt to the ground. Shepard raised his rifle at Jornock but the Yahg simply laughed menacingly.

"Give up Commander, if your pets were unable to defeat me what makes you think you can?" the Yahg taunted. Suddenly Grunt shot up from the ground head butting Jornock under the chin, causing the Yahg to take several steps back in recoil Grunt then picked up his Claymore from the ground and slammed it down between the horns on his head. Before Grunt had time to follow up with another strike the Yahg was thrown into the wall by an unseen force, knocking him out. Grunt and Shepard turned and saw the Shaman struggling to stay standing as his hand was out stretched and glowing brightly. Grunt went to restrain Jornock while Shepard approached the Shaman who was now slumped against the wall for support.

"Are you alright?" Shepard asked. The Shaman gritted its teeth as he pulled the first biotic round out of his shoulder. After he yelled out in pain he took deep, panting breaths as he looked down at the wound at his gut.

"Get that thing out of me so I can heal properly," he demanded. Nodding Shepard called upon his Omni-blade and quickly cut down on the wound (causing the Shaman to scream out in pain) as the bullet was immediately taken out. The Shaman nodded his thanks as he slumped down to the ground.

"How much time are you going to need?" Shepard asked.

"A few days, those rounds are definitely stronger than the usual ones." Shepard nodded as he looked over to Grunt who was stroking one of the M-11s the Yahg had dropped.

"Grunt how Jornock? Is he alive?"

"These guns are awesome Shepard," Grunt said ignoring the question entirely. "Can I keep em?"

"Grunt!"

"Ehh? Oh yeah! He's cuffed and ready to go." Grunt said in realization.

"Good, now let's find a Geth unit and get that shuttle down here." At that moment Jornock began to laugh again from the ground, causing the others to look down at him suspiciously.

"You think you've won this war just by catching me?" Jornock asked. "Even if you get me off this pathetic colony the Yahg Empire will already have a successor for me, there's no point in taking me alive."

"Even if that's true it isn't up to me, we'll bring you to the Council and they'll decide what to do to you,"

"I'm shaking in fear Commander," the Yahg taunted. "Just know that now that I've been captured you won't be able to leave here so easily. The Yahg chasing your civilians have been called back, they'll be here in a matter of minutes to destroy your rag tag team, where my son will have his revenge.

"Your son?" Shepard asked in confusion.

"Moreck Jornock," the Yahg said menacingly. "The Yahg you imprisoned and forced to watch as you killed his brothers and my oldest SON!" Jornock spat venomously. "Make it easy on yourself Shepard and put a bullet in your head, because if your mission to get me off Mindoir is successful it will be his personal missive in life to ruin your short life span."

"Not happening," Shepard said as he signaled for Grunt to get Jornock on his feet. "We _are _getting you off this colony even if we have to build our own damn ship. It wasn't long until they saw the towering Prime unit observing several engineer platforms repairing their damaged comrades. When they approached the Prime turned and looked down towards Shepard.

"_Shepard Admiral, the building has been secured and all enemy forces have been neutralized. Casualties were minimal and were primarily towards Geth platforms. With repairs underway we will be back to full fighting force in minutes."_

"That's good to hear, but we need you to call down that shuttle now. We have a badly wounded Krogan and a VIP we need transported to the Council."

"_Negative, we are unable to send a shuttle at this time."_

"What?! Why not?" Shepard demanded.

"_The ship we were on was attacked by an unseen enemy; we managed to find them on radar but were forced to turn the ship away before any severe damage could be done to the supplies aboard."_

"So basically we're stranded then?" Shepard asked incredulously.

"_Correct,"_ the Prime answered. Jornock laughed and Shepard turned around to scowl at him.

"Better get working on that spaceship," he taunted. Grunt knocked the Yahg out by slamming the butt of his Claymore into his face again while Shepard tried to figure a way off the colony.

"The Yahg and Cerberus had to of gotten here somehow," Shepard realized aloud. "Why don't we take their ship?"

"_Scanners do not show any working space crafts in the area beyond several shuttles outside of the base,"_ the Prime informed.

"Perfect," Shepard said morbidly. Suddenly the Prime's light on his head flared red as it looked out into the distance.

"_Warning large group of enemy soldiers on route to our location,"_

"How can you know that?" Grunt asked.

"_They are currently trying to make contact with the base here; they will be here within ten minutes."_

"How long until the soldiers are repaired?" Shepard asked. The Prime looked over to the engineer at work, who looked up from the current platform it was working on and said simply,

"_Not ten minutes." _Shepard sighed as he cocked his weapon. "We better buy us some time then." It wasn't long until the Yahg soldiers were in sight of the base, and there were hundreds of them on their way to the base.

"Hundreds of Yahg against a handful of Krogan and Geth," Grunt said shaking his head with a smile. "Takes me back to fighting on Shalock against those Blue Suns mercenaries."

"That was a fun battle!" Dagg said in agreement.

"What happened?" Shepard asked.

"Several hundred mercenaries coming at Aralakh Company, fighting went on for three days straight with us on top," Grunt said as he cocked the Yahg's weapons. They began picking off the oncoming Yahg one at a time, the most useful being the Prime and other working Geth units who had perfect aiming software installed. Once the Yahg reached the walls of the building though is when things went bad.

"Can they break through the walls?" Shepard asked. The building shook violently as an explosion was heard while the very foundation of the building seemed to shake.

"Does that answer your question?" Skrawl asked angrily. The team turned around as they expected the Yahg to come up at any minute now. The Krogan growled readily as the Geth Soldiers were slowly being brought up to fight. Even the Shaman managed to stand in what seemed to be their last battle. Shepard sighed as he readied himself saying aloud, "At least Liara won't be the one to kill me,"

"I wouldn't say that yet Shepard," a very familiar voice said from behind. Shepard and the others spun around to see Kaidan, James and two of the Krogan that had stayed with Shepard and Liara for protection. They were in front of the building on the Normandy's shuttle, both humans having a smile on their face regardless of the situation.

"Kaidan?" Shepard said in surprise. The Spectre jumped out of the shuttle with Vega as they both saluted him.

"Figured you might need some help Shepard," Kaidan said

"How did you guys find us?" Shepard asked. "We couldn't get any signals off of Mindoir."

"Liara got pissed when you didn't come home, I went to visit you after my mission was finished and we came here to get you,"

"Wait we?" Shepard said in shock. "Liara's HERE?!"

"She's in the Normandy's med bay," Kaidan explained.

"Are you crazy? Bringing my pregnant wife into a war zone?"

"Ok first of all we didn't know it was a war zone, second could _you_ say no to her given the situation?" Shepard shook his head reluctantly agreeing with him as he pointed down to the horde of Yahg entering the building.

"Tell me you at least brought back up," Shepard pleaded.

"The Fourth Fleet is coming in force Shepard, I did have to use your authority though to get them moving," Kaidan said apologetically.

"How long?" Shepard asked.

"20 minutes behind us from the relay, so maybe 30 before they can deploy troops." Shepard turned to the Krogan and Geth readying to fight.

"Can you guys last that long without me?" Shepard asked.

"Don't insult us Shepard," Dagg said with a scowl. "We'll buy enough time for the cavalry to arrive, you get out of here!" Shepard nodded his thanks as he pointed to the Shaman and Jornock.

"Get them onto the Shuttle," Shepard instructed. "The Krogan's a friendly, the Yahg is a POW."

"Damn Loco, you sure know how to bag 'em and tag 'em," James complimented as he and the other Krogan threw the Yahg into the shuttle. They were gentle with the Shaman as Shepard and Grunt hoped into the shuttle.

"Get us out of here Vega," Shepard instructed.

"You got it," Vega replied as he started up the shuttle. As they flew off Shepard noticed that Grunt was looking down at the battlefield where the Yahg were just beginning to attack the others. Shepard put a comforting hand on the Krogan's shoulder.

"They'll be ok Grunt,"

"I'm not sad about that," Grunt said angrily. At Shepard's confused expression he pointed to the ever shrinking Dagg. "Dagg took my new guns away," he pouted. Shepard shook his head as the shuttle left Mindoir's atmosphere towards the Normandy. When they boarded Shepard jumped off the shuttle and ran to the elevator.

"Get the Shaman to the Med Bay and the Yahg in Javik's old room to restrain him; I need to get to the med bay." Not waiting for anyone to reply Shepard hit the button that would take him to the crew deck where the med bay was located. After what seemed to take hours in the slow moving elevator it finally arrived on the crew deck where Shepard ran past the surprised crew of the Normandy towards the med bay guarded by two Krogan, one of them Shepard recognized as Dorg. As Shepard passed them into the med bay everyone turned to see who had entered. Auron and Chakwas responded with smiles as Liara had a shocked look on her face at seeing Shepard in armor and covered in blood. Shepard passed and ignored Chakwas and Auron and went directly to Liara's side where he bent down and kissed her passionately, trying to put dozens of unsaid things into the kiss. When they separated Liara smiled slightly before frowning and slapping Shepard on the chest: hard.

"Your late," she pointed out angrily.

"I know," Shepard said.

"You didn't call,"

"I couldn't,"

"Why not?" She demanded.

"Yahg and Cerberus attacked Mindoir," Shepard said sadly, quickly taking the fight out of Liara. She waited a few moments before speaking again.

"So there was no whore on Omega?" she asked. Shepard looked at her bug eyed before bursting out laughing.

"I was nowhere near Omega Liara, and did you really think I'd cheat on you?" Liara looked away, blushing heavily as she said almost silently, "Maybe." Shepard laughed as he grabbed her hand and kissed her again, gently this time. When he pulled away he looked at her lovingly and said,

"Never," Liara smiled back up at him when the Normandy suddenly shook.

"What the hell was that?" Shepard demanded. As Joker's voice came over the PA Liara grabbed her stomach in pain.

"_We've got a breach in the shuttle bay; three unidentified shuttles have just landed there."_

"John," Liara called out but was unfortunately ignored.

"How'd they get in?" Shepard demanded.

"_They shot through the ramp, emergency door is in effect- holy shit those are Yahg!"_

"John!" Liara called out again more forcefully but was again, ignored.

"Can you shut down the elevator from working?" Shepard asked.

"_I already did, but they have a Cerberus engineer working on the elevator, you'll have to take them out by hand,"_ Joker informed.

"I don't have any time to lose then," Shepard said as he turn to ran to the door.

"SHEPARD!" Liara shouted angrily. He turned to see Liara sweating and in obvious pain.

"What's wrong?" Shepard asked frantically.

"My water just broke." Liara said sternly. Shepard didn't say anything; he just stood their bug eyed as did Auron. From behind they heard Grunt run into the room and saw Shepard and Auron's expressions on their face.

"Hey calm down Shepard, there only Yahg," he said sympathetically.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 30: A Miracle in a Time of Terror

The room was completely silent; Shepard and Auron were looking at Liara bug eyed, Dr. Chakwas was doing her best to make Liara more comfortable, Liara was breathing heavily as sweat was coming down her brow as she suffered from the pain of contractions while Grunt continued to stand behind Shepard with a confused and absent look on his face as he put an unconscious Shaman on a nearby bed.

"Does someone want to tell me what's going on?" Grunt finally asked after another five minutes of silence.

"Grunt, Liara's getting ready to have her baby," Dr. Chakwas said calmly.

"Now?" Grunt asked in shock. "You want to birth your baby _now?"_ Liara shot Grunt a look combined with anger and pain as she said as steadily as she could,

"Grunt it doesn't matter if I want to have the baby now or not. Mostly because I have no power over that and because _SHE WANTS TO COME OUT NOW!"_ As Liara shouted Grunt took several steps behind Shepard and pushed him towards Liara.

"Shepard, your wife is scaring me. Do something." Shepard shook out of his trance and went to Liara's side.

"Liara how long do you have?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"I don't know John," Liara panted. "All I know is that it's going to be soon." Shepard looked at Liara and then out towards the door. After a few minutes he shook his head.

"No. I already almost missed you having our child by going to Mindoir; I will not make that mistake again." He looked back at Liara, grabbed her hand, and gave it a comforting squeeze. "I promise, I will not let anything happen to you or our daughter; and I promise that I _will_ be here when you give birth to the baby. All I ask is that you hold on as long as you can."

"I'll try John," Liara panted again. Shepard kissed her brow gently before looking towards Dr. Chakwas

"Take care of her Doc," he said sternly.

"Of course Admiral," She said assuring. As Shepard and Grunt walked out of the med bay together Shepard noticed that Auron was walking with them.

"What are you doing Auron?" Shepard asked.

"I'm coming with you," he said as if it was obvious.

"No way, it's too dangerous," Shepard insisted.

"You need all the help you can get Johnny, I may be old but I still no how to use a gun," To prove his point he pulled out two Carnifex Hand Cannons from his belt. Shepard gently pushed his hands down and shook his head.

"More the reason for you to stay here,"

"But Johnny-"

"Auron please," Shepard interrupted. "I need you to promise me you'll protect Liara for me, can you do that for me?" Auron looked at Shepard sternly for a few minutes before nodding in agreement.

"Thank you Auron," Shepard said clasping his shoulder.

"Be safe," Auron advised.

"Keep _her_ safe," Shepard instructed. As he turned back towards Grunt he saw that the Krogan was already raiding the weapons locker on the floor. Once Shepard approached Grunt began handing him several weapons including Heavy Pistols and several shotguns.

"You ready for this Shepard?" Grunt asked seriously, for once the Krogan didn't have excitement in his voice about attacking a powerful foe. Shepard looked up at Grunt and the Krogan could tell Shepard was worried.

"Shepard, we'll beat them." He assured. Shepard nodded in agreement and readied the Shotgun in his hand.

"Let's go kick some ass," Shepard declared.

"_Admiral the elevator is still down for the time being,"_ Joker called from over the PA. "_But there is a security duct in the server room that will take you to deck 4, Kaidan and James are already there guarding the prisoner."_

"Thanks Joker," Shepard called out. When there was no answer he and Grunt ran back in the med bay and into the server room. They found the security duct and noticed it would be a tight fit for Grunt, but when the Krogan squeezed in he managed to go through without complaint. As Shepard proceeded down the ladder he looked back up towards Auron who had followed them through the med bay.

"Re-cover the entrance to the duct and put something heavy on it, if anything with eight eyes tries to get through shoot them," Shepard instructed. Auron nodded as he covered up the duct immediately. As Shepard slid down the duct he ran towards the door with Grunt they knocked on it several times with no answer.

"Kaidan, James it's us!" Shepard shouted. The door opened revealing Kaidan and James with their weapons drawn ready for a potential trap, but at seeing the two they lowered their weapons and ushered them into the room quickly.

"We've got your Yahg leader restrained over there, this is one of the more secured rooms on the ship and the best place to hold a dangerous hostage."

"It locks from the inside right?" Grunt asked warily. Kaidan and Shepard looked at him curiously.

"Yeah Grunt, it locks on the inside," Kaidan said obviously. "This was your room, you mean to tell me you never locked it?" he asked curiously.

"No," Grunt admitted. "The AI wouldn't let me mess with the locks,"

"Not important," Shepard said interrupting the conversation. "We need to do what we can to keep the Yahg from retrieving their leader.

"Why don't we just space them?" Vega asked. "We may lose the shuttle and some of my shit but it's the best way to kill these pendejos." As if to ruin the idea they heard the rumbling of the elevator signaling that it was on its way up.

"So much for that plan," Kaidan said nonchalantly. "Any ideas?"

"I got one," Grunt said as he ran out of his old room into the hallway.

"What are you doing?" Shepard demanded.

"Improvising! Now someone slow down this damn elevator!" Responding to the call Kaidan followed after Grunt and went to the elevator's terminal and ripped it clean off. He then began to work his magic by connecting the elevators wires to his Omni-tool and doing his best to slow down the machine.

"I might be able to buy you five minutes Grunt but you've got to hurry," Kaidan warned. Grunt didn't answer but removed all of the Incendiary Grenades off of his belt and manually taking them apart and messing with the wires. While the others realized that Grunt was literally playing with unstable explosives they said nothing to stop his progress. After 3 minutes he managed to disassemble and connect 13 grenades and began messing with the wires in the elevator that Kaidan hadn't touched. After asking Kaidan what wires did what he connected several of them to his connection of grenades. When he was finished he looked over towards Kaidan.

"Make sure the elevator stops on _THIS_ floor," he instructed. "The minute the elevator opens the belt of grenades will go off hopefully destroying the oncoming Yahg before they even get off the damned thing. How long we got?" Grunt finally asked.

"A minute if I keep fighting their Engineer," Kaidan replied.

"Get back into the room and don't open it until you hear me mop the floor with their blood." Not questioning the Krogan Kaidan disconnected his Omni-tool from the terminal and ran back into the room. As he ran into the room Shepard came running out.

"Shepard what are you-"

"No time for questions," Shepard declared as he slammed the butt of his weapon into the terminal to the door. The door shut on a frantic Kaidan's face locking him and James in the room while also keeping everyone else out. When Grunt turned around to hide by the door he was surprised to see Shepard waiting there for him.

"What are you doing Shepard?" Grunt demanded.

"I'm not going to let you fight these things on your own!" Shepard said sternly. "I'm taking my stand here with you,"

"Don't be stupid Shepard," Grunt insisted. "Liara's about to pop out your kid any minute now, you don't want to miss that by dying."

"We won't die Grunt, we're too thick skulled, hell I've already died once and that only lasted for a couple of years." Grunt laughed at the memory as the elevator door increased its speed toward the floor.

"I can't promise we'll both get out of this Shepard but I've got your back," Grunt assured Shepard as the elevator stopped on this floor.

"And I've got yours Grunt; now let's kick some Yahg ass,"

_Med Bay_

As Shepard proceeded down the ladder he looked back up towards Auron who had followed them through the med bay.

"Re-cover the entrance to the duct and put something heavy on it, if anything with more than two eyes tries to get through shoot them," Shepard instructed. Auron nodded as he covered up the duct immediately. As soon as the lid to the duct was applied Auron carried several large crates and piled them atop of the panel, it may not keep the Yahg out for long but it would at least buy him a few seconds to prepare himself. As he ran back into the med bay Dr. Chakwas was already attaching medical bags to Liara to help ease her through the birthing process.

"Alright Liara, the contractions are obviously getting closer together. I just need you to relax and keep calm,"

"Easy for you to say," Liara moaned painfully. "You don't feel like you're being torn apart from the inside out!"

"Oh this is nothing," Dr. Chakwas assured her. "Just wait until your fully dilated, _then _you'll feel like you're being torn apart". Auron approached the Doctor as soon as she walked away from Liara to get something to ease her pain.

"Is there anything I can do?" Auron asked.

"Not necessarily, all we need is to wait for her to be fully dilated then she can give birth to the baby; what you can do is try to make her more comfortable, heaven knows the drugs I have won't be enough." Auron nodded and hurried over to Liara's side where he took a seat beside her and took her hand gently.

"It's ok Liara, everything will be ok," he assured her. Liara responded by squeezing Auron's hand like a vice, causing him to fall to his knees in pain as he tried to remove his hand from her grasp.

"Too hard TOO HARD!" Auron shouted out painfully. Liara released his hand with a huff as Auron fell back into his seat in relief.

"I'm sorry you were in pain Auron," Liara said sarcastically through her frantic breathing. "I have no idea what _you're _going through."

"I'm sorry," Auron apologized as he shook his hand to try to get the blood flowing again. "Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?" he asked. Liara thought for a moment as she continued to breathe heavily and react to the contractions getting closer together.

"Can you… sing me a song please?" Liara finally managed to ask weakly as she continued to pant heavily. "It might help me take my mind off of things." Not bothering to answer Auron typed at his Omni-tool and waved it over a table near him where a holographic image of piano keys suddenly appeared.

"Any requests?" Auron asked as he tested the keys of the holo-keys, they weren't as good as a regular piano but they'd do.

"No, just… play something!" Liara shouted. Auron nodded and began playing the song Heart and Soul.

"_Heart and soul, he fell in love with you,  
Heart and soul, the way a fool would do,  
Madly…  
Because he held you tight,  
And stole a kiss in the night."_

Auron continued to play as Liara shouted out in pain and said in a pain filled voice, "Play something else, _PLAY SOMETHING ELSE!"_

"Alright alright," Auron complained as he thought of another song to sing, after several minutes he knew just the song to play. As Liara continued to pant heavily Auron began to play a classic song that he used to play back at Shepard's house on his father's record player.

"_This day and age we're living in gives cause for apprehension  
With speed and new invention, and things like third dimension.  
Yet we get a trifle weary, with Mr. Einstein's theory,  
So we must get down to Earth at time: relax, relieve the tension._

_No matter what the progress, or what may yet be proved  
The simple facts of life are such; they cannot be removed.  
You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh,  
The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.  
_

_And when two lovers woo  
They still say I love you  
On that you can rely  
No matter what the future brings as time goes by."_

There was suddenly an explosion from one of the floors below them, as Liara looked around frantically as she panted Auron continued to play the song hoping to keep her mind off of the battle no doubt going on below them.

"_Moon light and love songs, never out of date;  
Hearts full of passion, jealousy and hate.  
Woman needs man and man must have his mate:  
That no one can deny._

_It's still the same old story,  
A fight for love and glory,  
A case of due or die.  
_

_The world will always welcome lovers as time goes by._

Auron continued playing the song over the sounds of gun shots and cries of pain in hopes to drown out the negative sounds with his music but he felt that no matter what he did Liara was still aware of the fighting going on downstairs. All he could do was play the piano and hope that Johnny was still alive downstairs.

"_The world will always welcome lovers…  
As time…  
__Goes by._"

When he finished the song Liara looked over to Auron with tears in her eyes, whether they were from the pain of going through the contractions or of Shepard not being there he didn't know, but Liara looked at him and smiled as she said, "Thank you Auron, that song was beautiful." Auron smiled and nodded as he heard a pounding sound coming from the server room. Auron shot to his feet and called out to the Krogan guarding the front door. At Auron's call they rushed into the med bay and followed him into the server room, when they saw the crates piled up on the security duct move violently the three of them aimed their weapons at the pile expectantly.

"You heard the Admiral gentlemen," Auron said coldly. "Shoot anything with eight eyes," As the crates were fired off of the duct opening (along with the door) the three took aim at the targets at the hatch.

_Fourth deck_

The elevator door opened and true to his word the grenade belt planted by the door exploded and burst into flames. Pained screams could be heard from inside the elevator as the Cerberus engineer ran out of the elevator lit on fire before falling to the ground dead while three Yahg corpses also fell out of the elevator.

"What are the chances that that was all they sent?" Shepard asked. Suddenly three Yahg leapt over the corpses of their fallen comrades as they shook off the remainder of the flames and charged at Shepard and Grunt.

"Bad," Grunt replied with a snarl as he cocked his Claymore.

"Got a plan B?" Shepard asked hopefully. Grunt didn't answer but let out a mighty roar as he charged at the Yahg with his Claymore raised. He slammed into the first two hard and managed to run them both into the wall on the far end of the hall, disorienting them slightly. As Grunt wrestled and shot at those two the third Yahg was still on a mad charge towards Shepard. Shepard fired at the Yahg with his N7-Valkyrie. As the bullets seemed to bounce off of the Yahg's hide the Yahg took a swing with his massive arm and aimed at Shepard. He dropped his gun and ducked below the punch and summoned his Omni-blade. As he ran under the Yahg's fist he made a nasty gash down the Yahg's arm, causing it to roar out in pain. As Shepard dived several yards away he wiped out two Carnifex hand cannons and fired them both repeatedly at the injured Yahg.

The Yahg shook off the shock from Shepard's slash and charged through the bullets back at Shepard. Once the ammo in his pistols were gone he threw them at the Yahg before ducking again under his punch, where he repeated his previous maneuver and sliced at the Yahg's gut. Unfortunately that area of the Yahg was heavily armored and merely caused the blade to bounce off uselessly. As Shepard was in recoil by his failed slash the Yahg charged him hitting him square in the chest and slamming him into the door behind him. Shepard let out a pained groan as the Yahg laughed mercilessly and held him up by his neck with his unharmed hand.

"Poor Commander, you thought that you and your pet Krogan could defeat us so easily? When we retrieve our Clan Chieftain and bring you back to Parnack you will learn what pain you will be rewarded for attacking the Yahg Empire." Shepard clutched at the Yahg's hand trying to loosen its grip around his neck but to no avail.

"Shepard!" Grunt called out frantically at seeing Shepard's situation. He made to rush to his aid but was pulled back into the wrestling match with the other two Yahg. As Shepard's body began to grow cold his grip on the Yahg's hand gradually weakened as it slowly slumped off of him. The Yahg continued to taunt Shepard but he could no longer here his words, the lack of oxygen to his brain was causing him to black out and block out all outside noise. As Shepard was about to slip into unconsciousness a voice shouted to him from within his mind, causing his heart rate to increase drastically.

_No!_ The voice shouted angrily into his mind. _I did not revive you to be defeated by a race more primitive then your own._

_Javik?_ Shepard thought hazily.

_You have the combined powers of several generations of Prothean! It is time you learned to use it,_ the Prothean's voice said. Suddenly Shepard's eyes shot open as he felt a sudden surge of energy course through his body. As the energy coursed through him his form began to glow a bright green color, the Yahg stared in shock at this as he saw Shepard suddenly revived and regaining his strength.

"How are you-ngghhh" the Yahg's words were interrupted when Shepard's glowing green hands regained his grip on the hand holding him up and squeezed on a pressure point the voice of Javik told him of on its wrist. The Yahg released Shepard by reflex and was brought to the ground howling in pain. In a fluid motion Shepard raised his hand, in return raising the Yahg in a glowing green light, and slammed him into the side of the wall, leaving a large dent in the wall as the Yahg fell to the ground unconscious. Turning to Grunt's battle Shepard shot two blasts of biotic energy at the Yahg he was wrestling, when the blasts made contact with the Yahg the Yahg began to writhe in pain as they were slowly brought to their death. As Shepard began to calm down he felt the surge of power quickly leave his body.

_I will not be able to save you again Commander,_ Javik's voice warned. _You must learn to control and harness these powers on your own, good luck. _As the voice disappeared so did the sudden burst of energy that Shepard had felt, causing him to slump to the ground in exhaustion. Grunt ran over to Shepard and helped him up, allowing him to lean on his shoulder.

"Damn Shepard, how long have you been a biotic?" Grunt asked curiously.

"No clue," Shepard panted heavily. Suddenly a thought crossed through his mind. "Liara, the baby, Grunt I have to go to her!" he shouted anxiously.

"Calm down Shepard," Grunt ordered. "Don't worry we'll get there, just wait a second." Grunt walked over to the door and knocked on it hard.

"HEY! We killed the bad guys! We're gonna go see Liara pop the kid out so come up when you're finished in there!" Not waiting for them to reply Grunt returned to Shepard and once again allowed him to lean on him to help him move as they went towards the entrance to the security duct. Realizing that Shepard wouldn't be able to climb up the ladder Grunt hoisted his human battle master atop his shoulders and squeezed his way into the duct as he slowly climbed up. As they pushed against the hatch they were met by heavy resistance. Realizing they wouldn't be able to get out conventionally Grunt decided to improvise.

"Shepard you got any grenades left?"

"Yeah why?" Without answering Grunt grabbed a grenade at Shepard's belt and threw it at the door only several feet above him. Grunt managed to shield Shepard from the majority of the blast but froze when he saw two members of Aralakh Company and Auron aiming their weapons down the hole.

"Is this any way to greet your commanding officer?" Grunt bellowed. The two Krogan immediately lowered their weapons as Auron sighed in relief at the sight of Shepard.

"Johnny, thank goodness you're alright." The Salarian reached down and helped hoist Shepard out of the duct while Grunt took his time trying to squeeze through.

"Did I miss anything?" Shepard asked in a fit of exhaustion.

"Not at all," Auron assured him as they walked into the med bay. Everyone turned to see Shepard walk into the room on Auron's shoulders causing everyone in the room to smile, including Liara despite the situation. Gaining his second wind Shepard got off of Auron's shoulder and limped to the bedside of his bond mate.

"Did you miss me?" he asked affectionately.

"Always," Liara panted as they brought their foreheads together. As they sat there Liara's brow furrowed as she looked up at Shepard.

"John, did you use biotics?" Liara asked surprised.

"I… think so," Shepard said unsure, "How did you know?" he asked curiously.

"Asari can tell when someone has used biotics recently, like a specific smell or aftertaste. But how is that possible?"

"I haven't a clue," Shepard admitted. "All I do know is that whatever Javik did to me he gave me more than an extended life span." Before Liara could say anything else Dr. Chakwas separated the two.

"While I'm glad to see you alive Admiral but you have to get out of here, this is a sterile environment and you smell worse than a sweating Krogan." Grunt and the others looked at the doctor in offense, but she ignored them and continued to scold Shepard.

"I'll treat you in a moment but then you need to get out of here and take a shower before I can let you anywhere near Liara."

"But Karen," Shepard argued.

"Don't but Karen me Admiral; now take off your armor." Obliging to the doctor's orders Shepard removed his armor and shirt and allowed the doctor to stick in several needles of pain killers and medi-gel before kicking him and Grunt out of the med bay to take a shower, assuring Shepard that he wouldn't miss Liara giving birth. Shepard ran to the men's restroom on that floor to hurry through a shower and froze when he saw the Shaman lying on a cot in the middle of the restroom.

"What are you doing in here?" Shepard asked. The Shaman looked up before sitting up on the bed to look at Shepard.

"The human doctor kicked me out the minute I was conscious saying I'd contaminate the pregnant Asari."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Shepard apologized; the Shaman merely waved him off.

"Don't worry, they were kind enough to inject me with medi-gel and other painkillers before rolling me in here. I assume the Asari is your mate?" he asked.

"Yeah," Shepard admitted.

"First time having a kid?"

"Is it that obvious?" Shepard asked. The Shaman chuckled as he nodded his head.

"Even with the stench of sweat, blood and Yahg fluids you still reek of fear. But it's clear what it is you're scared of." Shepard nodded as he hurried and went straight to the shower shutting the door behind him. As he stripped the rest of his clothes off and turned on the water he had to resist the urge to enjoy the hot water shooting down at him. It had been nearly two weeks since he had showered and he knew that he wouldn't be able to fully enjoy this one. He hurried through the shower and ripped nearly kicked down the door to the bathroom as he saw a clean pair of sweats for him hanging by the door. He threw the clothes on without drying off and bolted out of the bathroom nearly knocking over several people in his rush for the med bay. As he rushed in Auron was holding Liara's hand and was once again brought to his knees. At seeing Shepard run in he immediately reached out to him yelling out frantically,

"Tap out TAP OUT!" Shepard slapped Auron's hand where the elder Salarian released Liara's hand with a gasp of relief as Shepard immediately took his place sliding his hand into Liara's where she immediately squeezed his hand. Shepard couldn't feel the pain Auron did, probably due to the pain killers Karen had given him but he didn't care, he would be there for his wife even if it meant losing his hand in what appeared to be her vice like grip.

"How are we doing Doc?" Shepard asked warily.

"We're progressing accordingly, she's at about 6 centimeters dilated," Chakwas informed him.

"How long until she's ready?" he asked.

"It's different for every woman," she told him. "As a first time parent we may be here for a few days." Before Shepard could say anything Liara screamed out in pain as she squeezed tighter onto Shepard's hand.

"There is _no way_ I'm doing this for days!" Liara shouted.

"Calm down Liara," Shepard said trying to relax his wife, unfortunately that isn't what happened.

"Don't you tell me to calm down Shepard! You're the one who did this to me!" She shrieked half in pain half in anger.

"You're the one who wanted a child!" Shepard argued.

"That was before I realized how much pain I'd be in!" she hollered out in pain. For several hours they stayed in that position as Liara's contractions got closer and closer together until finally, 4 hours later, Dr. Chakwas declared that Liara was ready.

"Alright Liara, the baby's head is crowning," the doctor called out.

"Goddess!" Liara shouted as her eyes turned black the way they do when she melded. She began to squeeze Shepard's hand even harder than before, but the pain killers must have worn off so he felt the full wrath of his wife's grip. Liara continued to scream as she pushed and whenever her eyes were open Shepard noticed that her eyes were still black. Suddenly Liara stopped yelling in pain and froze in relief as her eyes returned to their original blue color. As she breathed in heavily, no longer in any tremendous amount of pain she looked up when she heard the tiny shrieks of a new born baby.

Shepard looked toward Chakwas as she wrapped the new born baby into a clean towel and smiled toward Shepard and Liara.

"It's a boy," she said teasingly as she gently handed the crying infant to Liara. Liara removed the towel from the crying infants face and did her best to calm the baby down. After a few minutes the baby finally stopped crying and seemed to look up at Liara expectantly. Shepard moved his head closer to Liara's to get a better view of his daughter and his heart dropped at the little infant in his wife's hands.

"She's perfect," Liara whispered as tears slowly flowed down her face.

"Yeah," Shepard agreed as he looked down at the little infant. "She gets that from her mother," Liara smiled and looked up towards him with a love filled stare.

"Look what we made John," Liara said in awe.

"Hard to believe she's made from half of my genes." Shepard admitted, earning him a chuckle from Liara. She continued to bounce the baby for a few minutes, trying to keep it calm before looking back to her husband.

"Would you like to hold your daughter John?" she asked gently. Shepard didn't answer but stretched out his arms for Liara to give her the baby. When he held the little girl in his arms Shepard simply stared at the little girl in awe as she looked up at him almost curiously. She looked almost exactly like Liara did, right down to the freckles on her face. Shepard gently stroked the little girls face and she made what sounded like happy noises as he did.

"It's like she knows who I am," Shepard said in amazement.

"She does," Liara said causing Shepard to stare at her confused. "When Asari give birth they meld with the child so she has an idea who her parents are. She might not recognize our faces, but she knows we love her." Shepard smiled as he gently bounced the little baby in his arms.

"You know we never really did talk about what we were going to name her," Shepard pointed out.

"Hmm, you know you're right," Liara agreed.

"How about," Shepard started as he handed the baby back to Liara, "We name her after your mother?" he suggested.

"Really?" Liara asked, surprised at the suggestion.

"Of course, with humans it's a sign of respect to name your child after one of your parents," Shepard told her. Liara considered it for a moment before nodding with a smile on her face.

"Alright, from now on your name is Benezia T'soni," They heard a sniff and a muffled cry and turned around to see Auron with a handkerchief in his hand watching the scene before him. Finally he cries and blows his nose into the handkerchief loudly.

"This is so beautiful," Auron cried out happily. Shepard laughed and asked for the baby again, when Benezia was in his hands he slowly walked over to Auron and held the baby out for him.

"Here, hold your niece Uncle Auron," Shepard instructed with a smile. Auron looked from him to the baby and smiled a big sappy smile as he took the baby gently into his shaking hands. As he held the baby he bounced it gently as he wiped away a tear from his eyes.

"Hello there aniołek, I'm your Uncle," As Auron held the baby gently in his arms Shepard looked at the baby lovingly.

"What does that mean?" Shepard asked.

"It's Salarian, for 'little angel'," Auron replied happily as he stroked the baby's crest gently. The baby fidgeted but did not protest to the attention. Soon everyone on the Normandy had come to see the new born: Kaidan and James followed by Traynor and many other crewmen on the deck. Grunt came up next asking to hold the baby; Liara hesitated for only a second before handing the baby over to the Krogan. She was surprised to see the gentleness he held the baby with and was even more surprised when he was making cooing baby noises at her. When Grunt looked up to Liara and Shepard's look of surprised he stared at them quizzically.

"What? I've been a parent longer then you two, I know how to hold the little whelps," he assured them.

"I'm sorry Grunt, I just wasn't expecting that from you," Liara admitted.

"I'm not surprised," Grunt said as he returned the baby to Liara. "I am a pretty scary monster, wouldn't want it getting around that I'm good with kids." Dr. Chakwas finally shooed everyone out of the med bay except for the married couple and Auron, insisting they need to rest. Shepard laid down beside Liara as Dr. Chakwas put Benezia in a small crib besides as they soon quickly fell asleep, with Auron absently tapping at the keys of his Omni-tool's piano app, the last thoughts going through Shepard's mind that nothing would ever be the same again.

AN: Hey sorry for posting this out of chronological order, I just fixed it though so it should all make sense now, and as a plus you guys get two chapters today you lucky son of a guns. Ill still post another one on Tuesday so hope to see you then, until then.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 31: An Anticipated Encounter

"_I'm glad to see you in one peace Admiral, I'm glad Captain Alenko was able to get you off Mindoir before you were to badly injured," _Councilor Hackett said with a relieved tone. Shepard was currently in the communications room on the second floor of what used to be the war room, but was now used as a meeting room for the leading members of Kaidan's crew.

"Not as happy as I am sir, was the Fourth Fleet able to get there in time?"

"_Affirmative they managed to either wipe out or capture the entire force the Yahg had deployed on Mindoir. We also found the civilians you had kept hidden along with hundreds more spread out in the colony. Your teams are also in fine health considering the situation."_

"I'm glad to hear that sir," Shepard said relieved.

"_In addition Admiral, the fact that you managed to capture the Clan Chieftain in charge of the attack does much in our favor. Hopefully given enough time we'll be able to get information out of him once Captain Alenko brings him to base along with the other Yahg we captured."_

"Those were my thoughts as well Councilor, but from what I've experienced the Yahg don't seem very willing to share information."

"_That's a problem for another day Admiral. You did good work Admiral, you deserve a break and I've managed to buy you some time before the rest of the council decides to pull your ear."_

"How'd you manage that sir?" Shepard asked.

"_I have my ways,"_ Hackett said slyly. "_Although while I have your attention Captain Alenko told me in his report that congratulations are in order."_ Shepard smiled and nodded his head in appreciation.

"Thank you sir," he said gratefully.

"_Have you and Liara decided on a name yet?" _he asked curiously.

"We named her after Liara's mother, Benezia," Shepard told him.

"_Well I won't keep you away from your family any longer Admiral. Hackett out."_ As the image of Hackett disappeared Shepard walked out of the communications room where he found Kaidan waiting for him just outside.

"You told Hackett about Benezia's birth?" Shepard asked. Kaidan shrugged innocently.

"I am obliged as a Council Spectre to alert the council of all happenings on my missions, but don't worry I only told Hackett about Benezia. I assumed you wouldn't want it to be made common knowledge just yet."

"Thanks for that," Shepard said gratefully as they walked out of the conference room towards the security gate.

"So what'll you do now Shepard?" Kaidan asked.

"I just want to go home and sleep for a few days," Shepard admitted. "Fighting a war using guerilla tactics against the Yahg on your home planet really tires a guy out."

"I bet," Kaidan agreed with a laugh.

"How about you?" Shepard asked Kaidan as they walked towards the elevator.

"Well the first thing I'm going to do is drop you off on Thessia and bring Grunt and his team back to Tuchanka. With this news of Cerberus working with the Yahg Wrex wants all of his people back so they can prepare. As for me, well Hackett wants me to follow up on some leads the troops picked up from the Cerberus terminals back on Mindoir."

"It never ends does it?" Shepard asked knowingly as the elevator started its descent to the crew deck.

"Not really," Kaidan admitted. "You ever miss it?" he asked. Shepard had to think about the question as it slowly stopped on their designated stop. Shepard looked through the glass at the med bay and smiled as he saw Liara and Auron fussing over Benezia in her little cot/ crib.

"Honestly I don't think I do," Shepard admitted. "Ever since leaving Mindoir I was thrown into the military, not that I have anything against it but for my whole life that's all I knew." The two walked (limped in Shepard's case) towards the med bay. "Now I have a family that I can settle down with, maybe not the conventional family I had envisioned 10 years ago, but I wouldn't trade mine in for the world."

"How isn't your family conventional?" Kaidan asked in mock offense. Shepard laughed as he thought it over.

"Well," he started; "All of my in-laws including my wife are Asari, I have a Salarian as an Uncle, a Turian and two Krogan as brothers, a Quarian for a sister,"

"And where am I thrown into this?" Kaidan asked with a chuckle already formed in his voice.

"I could always use a weird cousin I guess," Shepard said with a chuckle. As they reached the door Kaidan yawned and patted Shepard on the shoulder.

"Well I'm beat; I'm going to go to bed Shepard. We'll be in Asari space by tomorrow so you better get some sleep to."

"Will do Captain," Shepard said as he clasped Kaidan's shoulder in farewell as he entered the med bay. As he entered Liara turned her head towards the door and smiled at seeing his entrance.

"How is she?" Shepard asked as he took a seat on the bed besides Liara who had been lying down.

"She's just the cutest most perfect little thing in the world, isn't that right aniołek?" Auron said in a baby voice as he held her over his head. Benezia began to cry suddenly and Auron immediately brought her down and tried cradling her to calm her down. Liara laughed at the Salarian as she took the crying baby from his hands.

"Don't worry Auron she's only hungry," Liara assured him.

"How do you know?" Auron asked skeptically.

"Mother's intuition," Liara insisted as she opened the gown she was wearing giving Benezia access to her breast where the infant greedily began drinking.

"Hey, I didn't know I'd be sharing those," Shepard said sternly while pointing to Liara's breasts. She gave him and unbelieving stare and a small smile as she said in a stern but chiding tone,

"You'll get your turn, but she gets them first," Liara warned. Shepard crossed his arms as he lied down besides Liara pouting. She laughed as Shepard put his arm around her shoulder with a smile plastered on his face. Auron took a seat in one of the chairs chuckling as he looked over to the happy couple.

_You've definitely grown up Johnny,_ Auron thought. _I'm proud of the man you've become._ Suddenly Shepard said something to Auron that snapped him out of his mini days.

"I'm sorry what was that Johnny?" Auron asked.

"I said, how about a song?" Shepard repeated.

"That's an excellent idea," Auron said in agreement as he activated his piano app, the holo images of piano keys forming on a nearby table top. "Are there any requests?" the Salarian asked the couple. Liara looked over to Shepard who was frowning in thought as he thought of a song. When he had one he smiled happily.

"How about a kick in the head?" Shepard asked. Not even answering Auron began typing away at the keyboard playing the classic song that had been requested.

"_How lucky can one guy be?  
I kissed her and she kissed me,  
Like the fella once said, ain't that a kick in the head?_

_The room was completely black,  
I hugged her and she hugged back.  
Like the sailor said quote 'ain't that a hole in the boat?_

_My head keeps spinning,  
I go to sleep and keep, grinning  
If this is just the beginning my life is gonna be,_

Beautiful.

_I've sunshine enough to spread  
It's just like the fella said,  
Tell me quick ain't that a kick, IN THE HEAD?"_

Auron continued to play the song for their enjoyment until Liara and Benezia eventually succumbed to sleep. Shepard gently took the sleeping baby from Liara's arms as he held his daughter closely to his chest.

"She's a beautiful child Johnny," Auron complimented as he lay back in his seat, tired from the past few days' excitement. "You did a good job there,"

"Me?" Shepard said with a chuckle. "No, she definitely takes after her mother. Which is a good thing in my opinion.

"I wouldn't say that Johnny," Auron said with a chuckle. "She has your eyes, at the very least."

"You think so?" Shepard asked.

"Of course, now if only she had my charm and charisma she'd be even more perfect," Auron said as Shepard laughed at the notion. Auron yawned as he reclined in his seat.

"Tired there old man?" Shepard teased. Auron laughed as he removed his glasses from his head and put them on the table besides him.

"Yes well, I'm not used to all this excitement yet. Hopefully I'll be used to it in a couple years or so," the Salarian said hopefully. Shepard nodded as he stood in silence watching Auron fall asleep with Benezia in his arms. As he stood there a sudden thought crept into his mind, there was someone aboard the Normandy who hadn't seen Benezia yet. Shepard walked quietly and gently to the elevator as he hit the second floor button. He quietly walked towards the cockpit being sure to shush any of the crewmen who were being loud to use their 'inside voices'. He approached the entrance to the cock pit and stood there waiting for the pilot to turn around, knowing very well that Joker knew he was there. After a few minutes of silence Joker eventually sighed and swung his chair to face Shepard.

"Forgive me if I don't salute you Admiral, but I am off the clock," Joker said half-heartedly. As he looked up to Shepard he was surprised to see the baby Asari in his arms.

"You never did come up to see her yesterday," Shepard pointed out as he offered the child to the pilot.

"Kind of busy flying the ship, since I don't have a co-pilot anymore it's up to me to fly her," Joker said coldly. Shepard sighed as he took a seat in the co-pilot's chair and looked over to Joker.

"I didn't have any choice Joker," Shepard explained.

"Yeah I'm aware," Joker said scornfully. "I read the report you gave Hackett on how you defeated the Reapers."

"Then why can't you understand why I did it?" Shepard demanded. "You really want to tell me that you'd have rather had the Reapers flying around supposedly 'doing our bidding?' How long do you think that would have lasted?" Shepard demanded.

"So what? Let's sacrifice my girlfriend in order to save the galaxy, that sound like a fair trade to you?"

"It wasn't just EDI that was supposed to be killed Joker, all Synthetic life was supposed to be killed. I can't even begin to explain how the Geth are still around."

"Oh so you were willing to sacrifice an entire race to?" Joker spat angrily. "I wonder how the Geth would feel about that." Joker threatened.

"They already know," Shepard said angrily. Joker looked at him in surprise at hearing that.

"You told the Geth that you were planning to kill them along with the Reapers? When?"

"During the delegations back on Earth. After the Geth and Quarians had been accepted as living as a people outside the Citadel I spoke with the Prime unit who was at the delegations and told him what happened.

"What and it was cool with you nearly killing off its people?"

"It understood that leaving the Reapers alive would have been risky and possibly enable them to attack us again, it didn't hold me responsible for the choice I made and accepted my apology."

"Well la de da!" Joker yelled angrily. "So the Geth go running free, forgiving the possible genocide of their race, while I'm the only one who lost anyone."

"Are you serious?" Shepard said angrily. "YOU'RE the only one whose lost someone? Billions of people's lives were lost in this war Joker not just EDI. You want a list of the people who died due to this damned war? Look on the plaque downstairs or better yet since you're probably in no mood to go downstairs I'll list off some of them for you. Mordin Solus, Thane Krios, Samara, Legion, Anderson, you want me to keep going?" Shepard asked angrily.

"I get it," Joker seethed angrily, however Shepard was on a role and wasn't going to let him off the hook so easily.

"How about Jack, Jacob, Kelly Chambers, Ashley Williams,"

"I said I get it!" Joker shouted angrily.

"Then you should realize that you're not the only person whose lost anyone because of this war!" Shepard shouted in return. Finally having enough of the shouting Benezia had awoken and cried out loudly silencing both of the men. As Joker remained in his seat looking away Shepard stood up and calmed his daughter down until she was lulled back to sleep. Once she was quiet Shepard smiled and looked back towards Joker, his smile immediately disappearing.

"I came down here hoping I'd be able to get my friend back, but all you want to do is wallow in your own self-pity. Well I'll leave you to it Flight-Lieutenant Moreau." Without saying another word Shepard walked out of the cockpit ignoring the curious stares of the crewman who had overheard the shouting from the other room. As he returned to the med bay he put Benezia in her cot/crib and laid besides Liara, who immediately stirred and wrapped her arm around him as he got into the bed.

"Where did you go?" she asked sleepily. Shepard wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in close to him.

"I went to talk to Joker," Shepard said flatly. Liara noticed the tone he used and asked worriedly,

"Did it not go well?"

"No, it didn't" Shepard said sadly. Liara sighed and kissed him gently before laying down on his chest.

"I'm sorry John," she said honestly. Shepard remained quiet as he felt Liara slowly fall asleep from atop of him. He sighed in defeat not happy of the loss of a good friend, but knew it would be up to Joker to make the first move.

"So am I," he finally whispered.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 32: Parenting

"Which do you think she'd like better Johnny? Louis Armstrong or Louis Jordan?" Auron asked as he flipped through the records of Shepard's father's collection. Shepard shook his head disapprovingly as he cradled Benezia in his arms.

"What are you kidding?" Shepard accused. "She's barely two months old Auron, those guys have way to deep a voice for little ears," Shepard said the last part to Benezia in a cutesy baby tone. Benezia looked at her father absently as Auron continued to look through the records.

"How about Phil Harris then?" Auron suggested. Shepard shook his head disapprovingly.

"You know Auron as much as I want Benezia to like this style of music I think she's too young to appreciate it.

"Nonsense, everyone needs to learn respect for good music at an early age." As Shepard and Auron continued to argue over the principle of respecting good music Liara walked into the room rubbing her eyes sleepily wearing a t-shirt and sweat pants. Shepard saw his wife and approached her and gave her a gentle kiss on the mouth.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked worriedly.

"Not too well," Liara admitted. "I had to keep waking up in the middle of the night to feed and change Benezia." She took a seat on the couch exhaustedly as she took Benezia from Shepard's arms to feed the little infant.

"It's been like that since we got home, you need to get some sleep," Shepard insisted.

"So what am I supposed to do when Benezia wakes up in the middle of the night then?" Liara demanded. "Let her go hungry?"

"Of course not," Shepard said obviously. "I'll wake up next time and take care of Benezia,"

"Really?" Liara said in an unbelieving tone as Benezia began to suckle her breasts.

"Yes really," Shepard said sternly looking down at Liara.

"Exactly what do you know about taking care of a baby John?" Liara asked.

"About as much as you do," Shepard pointed out. Liara looked up at Shepard with a coy smile on her face as she finally nodded in consent.

"Alright then, you can take care of Benezia tonight,"

"I will," Shepard said with a returning smile. Later that night Shepard was abruptly put to the test. At approximately 2 A.M. Benezia's little voice shook the entire house causing Shepard and Liara both to jump up from their slumber. Liara looked over to Benezia in her crib and seemed about to jump towards her when she stopped and looked back towards Shepard with a smile.

"This one's all yours John," she said simply as she laid back into the bed tiredly raising the blanket up past her shoulders. Shepard yawned tiredly as he got out of the bed and walked around it to pick up the wailing infant. As he picked her up her noticed that she was a little heavier than usual, unwillingly bringing the baby to his face he inhaled through his nose and recoiled at the smell.

"That's just perfect," Shepard whined as he brought Benezia into the bathroom. In the bathroom was a baby changing station Liara had bought months before (in bulk similar to the cribs) with the necessary implements for changing a baby's diaper. Removing Benezia's clothes he slowly pried off Benezia's diaper and recoiled from the smell that was coming from it.

"Ack- were you sitting in this all day?" Shepard wondered aloud. "Damn even Grunt wouldn't come near this," he said fearfully. He removed the diaper and threw it into the garbage resisting the urge to light a match and burn his daughter's not so little 'gift'. He then wiped his daughter clean and then applied baby powder and a fresh diaper. Unfortunately as he re zipped her pajamas she was still crying loudly causing Shepard to worry. As he carried the crying infant back into his room he shook Liara awake explaining how he thought the baby was hungry.

"I prepared a bottle for when she wakes in the middle of the night, it's in the fridge."

"Can't you just feed her?" Shepard asked. Liara turned around and sat up in bed looking at Shepard with a small smile on her face.

"Did you not say you would take care of your daughter tonight?"

"Well yeah…"

"Then I believe you have your answer," Liara said as she laid back into bed pulling the covers up. Shepard stared at Liara gapping for a few moments before heading towards the kitchen and opening the fridge where he pulled out the baby bottle Liara had prepared. Unfortunately the bottle was cold and even Shepard knew the milk had to be slightly warm to appease the new born. Turning the water faucet on to use hot water Shepard let the water hit the bottle and surround it in its warmth. After a few minutes Shepard tested it and, when he was happy with the temperature, put the nipple of the bottle to the baby's mouth. Benezia greedily drank from the bottle and Shepard sighed in relief as the child stopped crying. He took a seat on the couch and watched Benezia drink her bottle, the sound of Auron playing his piano on the roof could be heard from the living room. He was tempted to go up to visit the Salarian but he was tired and wanted to go back to sleep as soon as Benezia finished her bottle. 20 minutes later Benezia had drained her bottle and was contently nuzzling into her father's chest for warmth.

Relieved that the baby was finally getting tired Shepard gently walked back to his room where Liara had already fallen back to sleep. Shepard gently put the baby back in her crib and crept back around the bed onto his side. The moment he shut his eyes Benezia let off another blood curdling scream that caused Shepard to moan from the bed. Getting up Shepard rushed back to the crib and picked the wailing infant up in an attempt to quiet her down.

"Come on Benezia," Shepard pleaded. "It's almost three in the morning and daddy wants to go back to sleep," Benezia cried even louder as Shepard moaned and carried her out into the living room. For several hours Shepard tried his best to get the baby to sleep or at the very least stop screaming so he could try to, unfortunately he wasn't very lucky. The baby continued to cry for several more hours and it wasn't until around six in the morning that Auron was coming down the stairs humming under his breath. He smiled when he saw Shepard and asked how long he'd been up.

"Since two in the morning, I don't remember Liara ever being up this late with Benezia,"

"Doesn't the baby have a pacifier you could give her?" Auron asked.

"A what?" Shepard demanded bluntly.

"You know a pacifier, its shaped like a nipple and meant to keep the baby quiet." Shepard looked around frantically around the living room looking for one but unfortunately couldn't find one.

"I'll buy some later, in the mean time I have to get some sleep." Auron laughed as he gestured to Shepard with open arms.

"Here give her to me, I'll watch her for you," without a second thought Shepard handed the wailing baby to the Salarian and ran for the bedroom. Chuckling Auron bounced the baby while making little cooing noises.

"There there now aniołek, don't cry. Why don't I sing you a song huh?" Auron continued to bounce the baby as he brought her up the stairs toward the roof so he could play her a song on the piano. As he sat down he realized it may be difficult to find a way for the baby to sit without her getting in the way of his playing. Deciding simply on simplicity Auron placed Benezia in between his legs and allowed the child to lean back onto his chest for support. The minute Auron began playing the Piano Benezia stopped crying and looked at the piano curiously.

"Do you like that aniołek? Do you like the pretty song?" Auron asked. The baby gurgled and reached out and pressed on random keys in front of her. Auron chuckled amusedly as he patted the baby on the head approvingly.

"Very good, I swear we have a natural Mozart in the house," Auron said aloud, causing the baby to laugh happily. Regaining control of the piano Auron began singing a song as Benezia did nothing to interrupt her Uncle.

_"Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie, A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly. Ask me a riddle and I reply Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie._

_Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie, A fish can't whistle and neither can I. Ask me a riddle and I reply Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie._

_Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie, Why does a chicken? I don't know why. Ask me a riddle and I reply Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie."_

After just a few minutes of playing the piano Auron felt the baby grow still and when he looked down at the little blue child saw that she was fast asleep. Smiling to himself he gently picked up the baby and carried her back to her crib in her parent's room. As he entered he noticed that Shepard hadn't wasted any time getting to sleep and was already passed out. Auron gently put the baby down and kissed her gently on the forehead.

"Good night my aniołek," he whispered gently. "Have pleasant dreams."


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 33: The Anniversary

Liara was busy typing away at her terminal trying to do some work while Auron was playing with Benezia. They were both lying on the baby's quilt while Auron was teasing her with the pink Hanar plush toy he had bought for her. It was easily as big as she was and Liara's main worry at seeing it was that the baby would accidently strangle herself. However Benezia already seemed attached to the toy and it was helping keep her occupied while she worked. Shepard had left early that morning leaving a note saying he'd be back later. Sighing she put her hands to her back and pushed as she heard her vertebrae crack rewarding her with a sigh of relief. She was about to stand up when she felt someone wrap an arm around her waist seductively. She smiled as she said in a serious tone,

"Not now Auron there's too much work me to do right now," Shepard laughed from behind her as he turned her around and pulled her into a deep and passionate kiss.

"Hey," Shepard said romantically.

"Hey yourself," Liara replied. In a fancy flourish Shepard revealed from behind his back a bouquet of blue Thessian roses. At seeing them Liara's eyes widened as she took the flowers from Shepard's hands.

"Oh John, there beautiful!" She exclaimed, bringing the flowers to her nose to inhale their intoxicating aroma.

"Happy Anniversary," Shepard replied as he kissed Liara again. She separated from the embrace and went to the kitchen to put the flowers into a vase.

"I'm surprised you remembered our anniversary, all things considered,"

"How could I forget the day I married the most beautiful woman in the galaxy?" Shepard asked as he walked to the opposite side of the counter Liara was standing on.

"Just don't ask him when your birthday is," Auron instructed as he approached the couple with Benezia chewing on one of the Hanar's tentacles. "He's probably hoping you won't call him out on it sine he remembered your anniversary."

"That wasn't my intention," Shepard pouted as Auron and Liara laughed at Shepard's expense.

"Well the flowers are amazing John," Liara assured him causing her husband to smile whimsically.

"Well that isn't all I have planned," he assured her. "I also got us dinner reservations at _Chateau Blue _for tonight at eight!" Liara looked at Shepard surprised at the idea and looked at him worriedly.

"You want to go out tonight?" Liara asked. Shepard saw the worried look on his wife's face and grew immediately worried that he had done something wrong.

"Well… yeah, I mean… it is our anniversary; and it's not like reservations were easy or anything."

"No I know that," Liara argued. "But it's just… don't you think it's a little too soon for us to be going out?"

"Liara we have our anniversary every year, is that really too often?"

"That's not what I meant John!" Liara said losing her patients.

"Well what is it then?" Shepard asked trying to defuse the situation. Liara sighed as she looked at him apologetically.

"Don't you think it's too early for us to leave Benezia home without us?" she asked.

"Is that what you're worried about?" Shepard asked in surprise. "Liara come on, you've been cooped up in the house for the past couple of months now since we got home. You deserve to go out and have a good time with your handsome date," Shepard said not too modestly.

"And who did you set me up with?" Liara asked teasingly. Before Shepard had anytime to respond Benezia broke out into a fit of laughter that made everyone look at her in surprise.

"Look at that, she has her Uncle's sense of humor," Auron said proudly as he bounced the baby girl and her plushy Hanar. Liara couldn't help but laugh at the sight as she felt Shepard put a loving arm around her.

"Come on, you need this. It's just one night out for a couple of hours, just the two of us. What do you say?" Shepard asked. Liara seemed resistant at first but after seeing Shepard's puppy dog pout she relented with a defeated smile.

"Oh alright," she conceded. "We can go out,"

"And don't you worry about Benezia," Auron assured her. "I'll watch her like a stalking Varren on Tuchanka."

"I don't know how reassuring that is but, thank you Auron," Liara said worriedly causing Shepard to chuckle. Later that night at approximately 7 o'clock Shepard was sitting on the couch wearing a very nice suit waiting anxiously for Liara to come out of their room. Auron walked into the living room from the kitchen, feeding Benezia her bottle, as he took a seat on the couch across from Shepard.

"What's the problem Johnny? You look a little stressed. Shepard looked up to the Salarian and nodded agreeably.

"Well it's been almost a year since Liara and I have gone out on a date, not since we found out she was pregnant with Benezia, and I'm just worried something will go wrong."

"Now Johnny," Auron said scolding. "I've always told you that if you think bas things are going to happen they will happen. It's best to think positive in these kinds of situations," Auron looked past Shepard and smiled a coy smile while he said, "And by the look of things you have nothing to worry about as far as things going wrong." As Auron chuckled Shepard looked behind him curiously and his jaw dropped as he observed his wife. She was wearing a curve hugging black satin dress that perfectly accented her body along with a matching pair of high heels and hand bag.

"Are you ready to go?" Liara asked innocently. Shepard had to slap himself awake as he leapt the couch over to Liara's side.

"Liara you look amazing!" Shepard complimented "I don't remember you ever wearing that dress though,"

"My sisters bought it for me, it was a wedding gift," Liara informed him.

"Well send my thanks to your sisters," Shepard said causing Liara to blush. As they walked towards the door Liara approached Auron and held out her arms to grab the baby from him. As she held the baby she kissed her head gently and said in a cuing voice,

"Now you be good for Uncle Auron now Benezia, Daddy and I will be back in a couple of hours."

"And no inviting any friends over or throwing a party," Shepard instructed, more so at Auron and not kidding as much as he could have been. Auron raised his hands up defensively and muttered something about a kill joy. Liara hesitantly returned the baby to Auron before she and Shepard headed for the door.

"Make sure that she's in bed by nine o'clock," Liara reminded worriedly.

"No problem," Auron said.

"And I prepared two more bottles in the fridge if she gets hungry,"

"Ok,"

"And the emergency numbers for the hospital and my dad are on the refrigerator,"

"Liara, I've got everything under control," Auron assured the worrying mother. Liara nodded as she went outside towards the sky car. Before leaving Shepard turned back to Auron and said in a hushed voice,

"Do me a favor and move Benezia's crib in your room tonight, just in case we come home and Liara feels 'in the mood'" Auron chuckled as he waved his former student off.

"I'll get right on that," Auron assured him. With a nod Shepard walked out the door and shut it behind him. As Auron sat back down on the couch he couldn't help but laugh.

"Well I guess it goes to show you aniołek, no matter how old they are boys' think of only one thing." Benezia looked up towards Auron before releasing a tiny burp, causing the old Salarian to chuckle amusedly.

_Chateau Blue_

Shepard and Liara had handed the keys to their sky car to the valet and were now entering the restaurant. As they entered they ran into a Salarian who was behind the desk and, upon seeing their approach, smiled and opened up his book of reservations.

"Name please?" the Salarian asked.

"Shepard party of two. We're a little early so we don't mind if we have to wait a few minutes," The Salarian checked his list of names and then that of available tables before looking up to the couple and smiling.

"No need we have a table open in the back, shall we?" Shepard and Liara followed the Salarian to their table, a booth located in the back and out of sight to most of the guests, where they took their seats and were given their menus.

"A waitress will be with you momentarily and I hope you enjoy your night," the Salarian bowed his head and quickly and quietly returned to his station. As Shepard looked down at his menu Liara was looking around the restaurant curiously.

"How did you manage to get a reservation here? I hear you have to make them months in advance," Shepard chuckled as he browsed the wine menu.

"Well saving the galaxy from the Reapers does have a _few_ perks." Shepard said light heartedly. Liara chuckled as their waitress, a young, bosomy, well stacked Asari, who seemed to just be getting out of her maiden phase, approached their table.

"Hello," she said in a kind upbeat tone, "My name is Phoebe and I'll be your waitress this evening, can I get you two anything to drink?"

"We will have a bottle of red Thessian wine, year 2150, and a couple of waters," Shepard said closing the wine menu.

"I'll get right on that," Phoebe said with a hint of flirtation in her voice. Shepard hadn't noticed it at all but Liara seemed to be suspicious. It was only a few minutes before Phoebe returned with their drinks and began pouring the wine into their glasses.

"Thank you Phoebe," Shepard said politely with a smile.

"Of course, anything for you Mr. Shepard. Are you and your _friend_ ready to order?" she asked. Liara heard the tone Phoebe was using with Shepard and how she had referred to her as his 'friend'. For whatever reason Shepard seemed oblivious to her advances.

"Uh yes I'll have the Filet Mignon, medium rare. What will you get Liara?" Shepard asked. Liara took a quick glance at the menu and then looked back at the waitress shooting daggers at her with her eyes.

"I'll have the garnale slaai please, dressing on the side." Phoebe didn't say anything to Liara, writing down her order before looking back towards Shepard with a smile saying,

"I'll have your orders brought out to you as soon as there ready. And please if you need _anything,_ don't hesitate to ask." Shepard thanked her as he handed her their menus as she left to deliver their orders. Once she was out of ear shot Liara looked over to Shepard furiously.

"I can't believe you John Shepard," she said angrily. Shepard looked at her confused and said innocently,

"What did I do?"

"That Asari is obviously flirting with you,"

"She is?" Shepard asked in surprise.

"Yes!" Liara exclaimed angrily.

"How can you tell?" Shepard asked curiously.

"Oh don't pretend you don't know," Liara said accusingly. "The way she's talking to you, the way she's oh so subtly bending over to show you her cleavage, referring to me as your _friend!"_ Shepard was about to say something when a big goofy grin formed obviously on his face.

"You're jealous!" he exclaimed in surprise. Liara began to blush furiously as she looked away angrily. "I can't believe your jealous Liara,"

"And why's that John?" Liara shot angrily. Shepard didn't respond negatively to her snap but took her hand in his lovingly as he squeezed it as she tried to pull it away.

"Why would I even look at another woman when I married the essence of perfection?" Liara was about to say something when she realized what Shepard had said as she blushed even harder. She looked away embarrassed but Shepard continued to talk her down.

"Liara you don't ever have to worry about me looking at another woman like… _that._ You're the only one for me, well you and Benezia any ways," he said jokingly. Liara finally relented and smiled as she muttered, "flatterer" under her breath.

"I'm sorry John," she said remorsefully. "It just upsets me that a woman would hit on you when it's obvious that we're bonded."

"I don't think she saw my ring though," Shepard said raising his hand to reveal the band on his finger.

"No not from that, remember when all of the biotics surrounded us at our ceremony?"

"I definitely remember the fireworks," Shepard teased causing Liara to blush again.

"So do I," Liara said fondly. "But what I meant was before that, when all of the biotics in the room surrounded us, you remember that right?"

"Yeah why?"

"Because of that all Asari know when someone is bonded to another,"

"Oh I get it now," Shepard said in realization before frowning slightly. "So she was being a bitch then," Shepard realized.

"That's what I was going for," Liara said with a smile. Shepard laughed as he rose his wine glass to her.

"Well let's forget about her and focus back on our night. I'd like to make a toast.

"What about?" Liara asked curiously as she raised her wine glass as well.

"A toast to a wonderful first year of being married to the most beautiful woman in the galaxy,"

"And, to the most handsome man in the galaxy," Liara said fondly. They smiled as they clinked their glasses together and drank from them. The two talked and enjoyed each other's company, and Liara wasn't tempted once to call Auron and check on Benezia. When the food came Shepard was sure to ignore Phoebe and her advances looking directly at Liara as she tried to get his attention. When she realized that there'd be no chance she walked away pouting, causing Shepard and Liara to burst out laughing.

"Serves her right for going after someone's bond mate," Liara said as she poured herself another glass of wine.

"Does that happen a lot?" Shepard asked.

"Almost never," Liara answered. "When Asari mate they are faithful for the duration of their lives."

"Looks like you don't get an easy way out then," Shepard teased.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Liara replied back with a smile. Once they were finished with their meals (and several glasses of wine later) Shepard leaned back in his seat content with the meal.

"Can't remember the last time I had a steak that good," he complimented. "Do you want to get any dessert?" Shepard asked. Liara smiled at him seductively as she barely browsed over the dessert menu.

"I find myself having a sweet tooth tonight, but I don't see anything that catches my interest. Maybe we should just go home," she suggested seductively.

"You sure?" Shepard asked obliviously to her advances. "The chocolate cheese cake looks good,"

"John?" Liara called out.

"Yeah?"

"I guarantee that the dessert we have at home will be much sweeter," Shepard was about to say something when the realization of what she was saying finally clicked in his mind. He stood up hastily, nearly falling over thanks to the wine, where he called out loudly towards Phoebe,

"Check Please!"

Several hours later Shepard rolled over in his head breathing heavily as Liara was sin the same shape as he was.

"Goddess," she managed to say after several moments of breathing.

"Yeah," Shepard said in agreement still breathing heavily as well. Liara turned on her side and wrapped her arm over Shepard's bare chest.

"Let's not wait a year before doing that again," she suggested.

"Done deal," Shepard nodded in agreement. The two laid there for several minutes in silence, enjoying each other's company when Liara looked back down at Shepard.

"So does this mean we can go out more often then?" she asked.

"Of course," Shepard said.

"Good, now get yourself ready. I'm still craving some chocolate cheese cake," she teased seductively.

"Yes ma'am!"


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 34: Conflicting Interests

"Alright let's go over the list to make sure we have everything," Auron instructed carefully. Shepard nodded in agreement as he looked down at the list they had made earlier.

"Fishing rods?" Shepard asked.

"Check," Auron said holding up two brand new fishing poles.

"Bait?"

"Check," he said checking a cooler filled with worms and bait fish.

"Refreshments?"

"Enough to make a Krogan woozy," Auron said while looking in the refreshments cooler. Shepard laughed as he put the list down. Today he and Auron were going fishing with Liara's brother in laws, Varel and Tarek, the Salarian and Turian business partners he had met on the Citadel two years ago. Varel owned a boat and they were taking it out onto Thessia's ocean for a few days to relax and have fun.

"Did we pack any dextro beer for Tarek?" Shepard asked.

"He said not to worry about it and that he'd bring it himself," Auron told him as he checked his tackle box for necessary lures and hooks.

"Then it looks like we're all set for our weekend fishing trip," Shepard said happily.

"Do you think Varel has a piano on the boat or should I bring mine?" Auron asked as he shut the tackle box.

"I think you can last four days without your piano Auron," Shepard said simply.

"Hey, music is my drug and who are you to cut me off?" Auron demanded. As Shepard laughed and threw his change of clothes onto the pile of luggage as Liara walked into the kitchen with a stern look on her face with Benezia in her hands.

"John what is all this?" Liara demanded.

"It's our fishing gear," Shepard informed her as he piled another case of beer into the cooler. At seeing all the beer in the cooler Liara shot Shepard an exacerbated look. "Well we can't drink the ocean water," Shepard argued.

"John you can't go on fishing this weekend," Liara said firmly. Shepard and Auron's head shot towards her direction after hearing Liara's demand.

"What do you mean we can't go fishing?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"I just got a call from Feron and he says that there is an unofficial meeting of underworld weapon dealers and smugglers out on the border of the Terminus system and I need to go there to insure my old contacts will still work under me and my _employer_," Liara explained.

"So we're going to Omega?" Shepard asked.

"No, _I _am meeting Feron on the border of the Terminus System. _You _are staying home to watch your daughter," she said while handing Shepard Benezia.

"But we've been planning for this trip for two weeks!" Shepard argued.

"And I need to go to this meeting to insure I don't lose any of my resources Shepard. You'll just have to go fishing some other time."

"But Liara," Shepard complained.

"John no buts!" Liara said sternly. She then walked up towards Shepard and gave him a quick kiss. "Now I'll be back in a few days; there are bottles in the fridge for Benezia along with a few cans of mashed fruit, and I think she's starting to teethe so make sure she has her teething ring with her."

"Why don't you just take her with you? No one would guess who you are if you're carrying a baby with you," Shepard suggested lamely. Liara just shook her head disappointedly as she headed to the door after grabbing her suitcase from behind the couch.

"I'll see you in a few days boys, take care of Benezia," after that she walked out the door without looking back. Shepard looked down towards the baby in his arms and, to make matters worse, Shepard could have sworn he felt Benezia's diaper get heavier right at that moment.

"Well this stinks," Shepard complained as he sat down at a chair near their luggage.

"Our fishing plans or Benezia's diaper?" Auron asked.

"Both," Shepard grumbled. "And thanks for backing me up back their Auron, way to help out."

"Hey she said that _you_ had to stay home and watch the baby, now I love you both but I'm going fishing."

"Nice try Bournemouth, but if I stay you say," Shepard said determinedly causing Auron to shake his head and grab a beer from the cooler. At that moment a knock could be heard from the front door.

"It's open!" Shepard called out. The door opened to reveal Varel and Tarek coming into the house dressed in what Shepard assumed to be Salarian and Turian fishing attire.

"Shepard! How's it been?" Tarek asked shaking hands with his brother in law welcomingly.

"Fine until twenty seconds ago," Shepard replied grumpily.

"Why what happened?" Varel asked.

"Liara had to go away on business and told me I have to watch Benezia," he complained gesturing to the baby in his arms.

"So what?" Varel asked confused.

"How am I supposed to go fishing with an infant Varel?" Shepard asked.

"Why don't you just take her with us?" Tarek asked. Shepard was about to reply with a smart ass remark when his face froze in realization.

"That's actually a good idea," Shepard acknowledged.

"You can't be serious," Auron said skeptically.

"You heard Liara, I have to watch her but she didn't say anything about not taking her with us,"

"Probably because she didn't think you'd do something so stupid Johnny," Auron protested as Shepard waved the Salarian off.

"Ignorance is bliss my friend. You guys start loading up the hover car, I'll go grab some things for the baby." In less than half an hour the four men and Benezia were driving down the highway on their way to Thessia's naval docks. It was approximately a two hour drive and thankfully Benezia had slept through the entire ride. When they reached the docks Tarek drove expertly around the port until they came across a beautiful looking boat that seemed fit for a king. Auron whistled in approval as Shepard complimented the two on their boat.

"That is an impressive boat gentleman,"

"Thanks Shepard," Varel said proudly.

"We bought it right before the Reapers attacked and haven't had any time to take her out on the water," Tarek explained.

"We're going to have to make a toast for the maiden voyage then," Shepard said. Everyone except for Shepard began unloading the hover car and loading up the boat. Shepard eventually helped but first he had to set up Benezia's crib and put the still sleeping baby in her crib along with her stuffed Hanar plushy, once he was sure the sleeping baby was comfortable he helped the others load up the boat. As soon as everything was loaded onto the boat Tarek took the driver's seat as he pointed outwards towards the sea.

"We have our heading gentlemen," he said with a terrible pirate impression. Not giving anyone any time to comment he started the boat and they immediately took off into the deep blue of the ocean. As Tarek drove the boat Varel showed Auron and Shepard the amenities on the ship. There was a sleeping room with six bunks, a dining area and a bath room that stored all waste in a tank until it was ready to be dumped. After about an hour of driving Tarek stopped the boat and dropped anchor.

"Well this is as good as any place to fish," he declared as he grabbed his fishing pole. In a matter of minutes the men all had their lines thrown into the water and held by the boats fishing rod stands while the men took seats out in the sun while cracking open their drinks.

"A toast, to the maiden voyage of the ship," Tarek declared happily.

"And to a weekend free of whining wives and children, present nieces excluded," Varel added. As the men toasted the group continued drinking and pulling up their lines as they slowly but surely caught a decent amount of fish. By the time it was night Shepard was working the barbecue cooking some of their days catch for himself and the Salarians while also a dextro like patty for Tarek while Auron was feeding Benezia.

"Alright here's another one," Tarek started with a chuckle as he took another swing from his beer. "Would you rather be taken advantage of by a group of Vorcha or an intoxicated Hanar?"

"Those both sound uncomfortable," Shepard pointed out.

"That's the point," Tarek said obviously. "Now what would you pick?"

"Probably have to go with the Hanar, I doubt a Vorcha would call me afterwards," Shepard said.

"Yeah same here," Tarek agreed. "Those claws scare the shit out of me anyways."

"Ditto," Varel said in agreement.

"How about you Auron?" Tarek asked. "Who'd you rather have?" Auron chuckled as he wiped baby food off of Benezia's chin.

"Well seeing how I'm already having sex with your mother in law and Shepard's father in law, I'm already getting it rougher than if I did a Vorcha." Auron laughed as the other three groaned in discomfort over Auron's choice.

"That's just gross man," Varel complained.

"Hey be glad you just have to hear about it," Shepard complained before taking a giant drink from his beer. "I had to buy a new bed thanks to him and 'daddy dearest,'" After a few more moments of whining Shepard asked his brother in laws a question.

"So how long have you two known each other?" he asked curiously.

"Tarek and I have known each other for 10 years," Tarek answered.

"We met right after I graduated from college, Tarek's company was in need of a VI software designer and I was one of the top of my class," Varel added.

"After a few years we became business partners."

"Now was that before or after marrying sisters?" Auron asked.

"Tarek was married when we met, he introduced me to Forla and after a while we got bonded."

"Yeah but did _you _have two Krogan shoot up a hall and a church for you?" Shepard demanded. Tarek and Varel's eyes widened in shock.

"That was you?" Varel asked in awed surprise.

"That's the best television Thessia has had in years!" Tarek said in agreement.

"Well what can I say, it's all about who you know," Shepard bragged. After the group downed a few more beers the quartet moved to the bunk beds to get some sleep. Several hours into their sleep Benezia woke up crying in the middle of the night. Through the moans of the rest of the group Shepard grabbed Benezia and took her out onto the deck of the boat. She calmed down quickly enough but she didn't seem to be tired at all due to her sleeping most of the day to get here.

"Guess you'll be keeping me company tonight huh Benezia?" Shepard asked the baby. She looked up at him curiously as Shepard sat the baby in his lap.

"It's probably for the best if you don't tell your mom we were out here though," Shepard whispered in mock fear. "She'd probably throw a fit and kick me and your Uncle out of the house," Benezia laughed causing Shepard to smile at his daughter's good timing.

"Would that be funny Benezia? You want mommy to kick Uncle Auron and Daddy out?" as he questioned the baby he continued to tickle her causing her to laugh even more. Shepard chuckled as he bounced the still giggling baby on his knee.

"This is a secret between us and your uncles Benezia so no tattling, promise?" Benezia made a gurgling sound as Shepard sat the baby firmly on his knee. "Here, let's shake on it. No telling mommy, deal?" Benezia gurgled again and grabbed a hold of one of Shepard's out stretched fingers causing Shepard to chuckle again.

"You know you're smart for a five month old baby. I should teach you how to play Poker,"

_Three Days Later_

Shepard and Auron were quickly unloading the truck in the middle of the night, tired from their weekend of fishing and looking forward to sleeping in their own beds. Once everything was out of the car they decided to leave the tackle boxes, empty refreshment cooler and rods outside and bring them in tomorrow. Shepard was carrying Benezia who was wearing a pair of sunglasses far too big for her face that were given to her by her Uncle Tarek. She was wide awake and singing as Shepard carried her in one arm and a handle of the cooler carrying their share of the fish with Auron lifting it from the other side.

"I think that went pretty well," Shepard said happily as they approached the door to the house. "And Benezia seemed to have a good time to.

"You know I hate to admit it but you were right Johnny, it was fun bringing her with us. You have her Hanar right?"

"Yeah she's got it in her hands. "You've got the pictures we took right?"

"Yup, I sent them to your Omni-tool,"

"Good, we can show them to Liara in a year or two when she can't be mad at us anymore." Shepard put down his end of the cooler to unlock the door to the house. When he opened the door Shepard picked up his end of the cooler again and said in a confident voice, "And Liara doesn't ever have to find out," At that moment a lamp was turned on in the living room causing Shepard and Auron to jump in fear while also dropping the fish cooler. Sitting on the couch besides the lamp was a very angry looking Liara.

"What doesn't Liara ever have to find out?" she asked angrily. Auron made to run out the door but the door was immediately shut due to Liara's biotics.

"Liara," Shepard said frantically. "I uh… thought you weren't supposed to be home until tomorrow," Shepard said hurriedly as he tried to think of an excuse should the need arise.

"Feron and I finished our work early; we were able to come home a day earlier,"

"Well that's great! Because we missed you, didn't we Auron?"

"Oh yes! Yes of course! I uh… love you … Liara," the Salarian said in a panic. Liara was silent for a moment before standing up from her seat and slowly walking towards the two.

"So where have you two been all day," she asked in mock interest.

"Us? Go somewhere? What uh makes you think we went anywhere?" Shepard asked lamely. Liara gestured to the cooler in between the two men causing Shepard to act out in over dramatics.

"OHHH the COOLER! Well you see we… figured that Benezia needed to get some fresh air so we took her…"

"To the park!" Auron saved quickly.

"Yes to the park!" Shepard said in agreement. "We took Benezia to the park."

"Then what's in the cooler?" Liara asked.

"It was our lunch," Shepard answered calmly. "We had a lovely little picnic in the park,"

"Beautiful," Auron said in acknowledgement. Liara looked at the two as she got dangerously close to them.

"You two look awfully tan for one day at the park,"

"What can I say, I have an excellent golden complexion," Shepard managed.

"Beautiful," Auron said stumbling for words. Liara continued to stare at the two before finally walking towards the cooler.

"Well you two must be tired then, let me clean the cooler for you," she offered as she bent down to remove the lid.

"NO!" Shepard and Auron yelled, but it was too late. Liara opened the lid to the cooler reveling at least ten pounds worth of fish, fresh and ready to be gutted.

"Well you guys must not have eaten much, you still have plenty of fish left over," Liara said while her temper was steadily rising.

"… Beautiful," Auron said just mumbling now. Suddenly several of the fish floated from the cooler and stared at the two men with glassy stares.

"Are fish on Thessia supposed to fly?" Auron asked. Shepard shrugged as he noticed that Liara was glowing blue with the use of her biotics.

"You two went fishing when I specifically told you not to!" Liara said angrily.

"Well technically you only said to_ watch _Benezia, which we did! Like a Hawk!" Shepard assured her. Several more fish floated out of the cooler as they slowly progressed towards the two.

"So not only did you not listen to me when I said not to go fishing but you took my daughter out in the middle of the ocean with you to go fishing!"

"It was Tarek's idea, call Korra and have him punished!" Shepard pleaded.

"Oh I already called Korra and Forla and don't worry, their husbands are getting punished as well," Liara said angrily. The fish were dangerously close to the two of them as Shepard raised Benezia as a shield between them.

"Liara, think of the baby. Set a good example!" he pleaded.

"Your right," she said in a pleasant tone. Shepard almost sighed in relief as Benezia was biotically lifted from Shepard's arms, along with her Hanar, and brought into Liara's arms. Suddenly the fish were fired at Shepard and Auron as they were repeatedly hit with the dozens of fish they had managed to catch as they ran around the house struggling to avoid being hit by flying fish Benezia laughed hysterically at the sight causing Liara to smile slightly at the situation.

"Let's go to bed Benezia, you must be tired." Benezia continued the onslaught of fish strikes for another hour until Shepard and Auron were forced outside to get out of Liara's range. Benezia went to sleep immediately after being laid down in her crib as Liara took a seat on the bed and sighed. Suddenly her Omni-tool pinged; she looked down and saw it was a message from Shepard. She opened it, expecting it to be an apology letter, and was surprised to see pictures of Benezia on the fishing trip. There were dozens of pictures with her and her father and uncles, pictures of it looking like her fishing with sunglasses on and a pole in between her legs, a picture of her lying beside some of the caught fish and finally a family picture of everyone together holding a fish. Liara couldn't help but smile at the pictures and look at the sleeping baby fondly.

"Well I'm glad that you had fun Benezia," Liara said lovingly as she stroked her daughter's cheek. "But next time I say not to go fishing, you get in trouble to," Benezia stirred in her sleep, flinching slightly, as Liara kissed her daughter gently on the crest before quickly going to bed.


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 35: A Happy Visit

Shepard and Auron were eyeing each other dangerously, breaking contact only to look down to the cards in their hand. After a silent stare down Shepard throws two cards into the pile.

"Give me two," he said calmly not breaking eye contact. Auron dealt out two new cards to Shepard while also giving himself three new cards as well. "What about you slick? Want to trade in any cards?" Shepard asked. A wet, soggy card was thrown into the middle of the table as Auron sent another one their way.

"Alright Johnny, what do you bet?" Auron asked. Shepard thought it over for a few seconds before pushing in two stacks of cheerios.

"I bet 20," he said calmly.

"I call," Auron replied. Their third threw in a cheerio and Shepard and Auron assumed that meant they were in. "Alright Johnny, what do you have?" Auron asked. With a smile Shepard threw his cards onto the tale.

"Straight, king high," Shepard said proudly. Auron laughed as he shook his head pityingly and threw down his hand.

"Full House," he said happily. Shepard slammed the table angrily as he looked at the other end of the table.

"What do you have Benezia?" Benezia was sitting in her high chair chewing on her cards with the largest pile of cheerios in front of her while wearing her Uncle Tarek's sunglasses and a visor professional poker players wear along with her Hanar plushy hanging from the seat.

"I didn't think it would be this hard to teach a seven month old baby to play poker," Shepard complained.

"I told you we should play Texas hold em, five card is too complicated," Auron complained as he went to reach Benezia's cards. Before he could grab them Benezia threw them to the middle of the table with a laugh as Shepard and Auron got a look at her cards.

"You dealt her four aces out of the shoot!" Shepard complained.

"Well how was I supposed to know she'd hoard em? She's been using them to teeth for the past six minutes!" Shepard pushed the pile of cheerios towards Benezia who clapped happily with a smile on her face.

"Who does she get her skill from?" Auron asked in defeat.

"It must be Aethyta: I'm not that good and Liara doesn't know how to play," Shepard complained. Liara walked into the kitchen just in time to see Shepard reach for a stack of Benezia's cheerios just in time to have his hand slapped at.

"What are you doing to my baby?" Liara said jokingly as she observed the situation.

"Getting cleaned out by a toddler," Auron complained.

"She's won almost every hand," Shepard added. Liara laughed as she picked Benezia up from her high chair.

"That will teach you to play against the T'soni women," Liara said proudly.

"You don't know how to play poker," Shepard said accusingly. Liara chuckled as she bent down to look Shepard in the eyes.

"And its thoughts like that that assure I always win," Liara said seductively before walking off towards their bedroom. Shepard watched in a mix of emotions, he was now fairly turned on but was unsure if he should follow Liara into the bedroom, the main reason being that she brought Benezia into the bedroom with her.

"Quit being a pansy and go after her," Auron said as he cleaned up the cards. Shepard chuckled as he got up and went into the bedroom. When he entered he noticed that the bedroom was empty.

"Liara?" he called out.

"I'm in the bathroom," Liara called from the bathroom connected to their bedroom. Shepard took a wary look into the bathroom but then walked in calmly after seeing Liara giving Benezia a bath. Liara saw Shepard walk in and moved over for him to join her.

"Did you want to help give your daughter a bath?" she asked.

"Well the way you talked back in the kitchen turned me on and I thought you were trying to… seduce me," Shepard admitted sheepishly. Liara looked at him amused and asked in a playful tone,

"With our seven month old daughter in the room?"

"You're the one with the weird fetish," Shepard teased causing Liara to splash him with the bath water.

"Hey!" he complained as he wiped himself dry.

"That's for having a dirty mind," Liara said playfully.

"Oh really?" Shepard said equally as playful. He responded by splashing Liara right back, causing the Asari to recoil from the sudden splash.

"Oh you're going to regret that John Shepard," Liara said in a playful tone.

"What are you going to do, put me over your knee?" Shepard challenged. Before Liara could respond Benezia brought both of her hands down on the water splashing the both of them as she laughed happily. Shepard and Liara couldn't help but laugh as they both went on to washing Benezia.

"Why are we giving her a bath anyways? It's not bath day," Shepard asked.

"I know, but I got a call from Tali and she and Garrus will be on Thessia in a few hours," Liara informed.

"Oh yeah? What's the occasion?" Shepard asked happily.

"The Asari Matriarchs want to try and have better relations with the Quarians so they invited the Admirals over to talk. The Quarian Admirals sent Tali and Garrus is coming along for the ride, they said that they'd come by and visit since they don't have to meet with the Matriarchs until tomorrow."

"Well it will be good to see them again. We haven't seen them since the wedding have we?" Shepard asked.

"That's right, it's already been over a year," Liara reminisced.

"A wonderful over a year," Shepard added cornily. Liara laughed as she bumped Shepard with her shoulder playfully.

"Flatterer,"

"I try," Shepard responded with a smile. "So… what are we going to do until Garrus and Tali get here?" Shepard asked in mock innocence. Liara looked over to Shepard suspiciously as she took Benezia out of the tub and wrapped her in a towel.

"Well I need to dress Benezia and put her down for a nap, why? What did you have in mind?" Liara asked.

"Well… we have a few hours, and you're already soaking wet," Shepard laughed at Liara's blushed expression as she quickly slapped John on the chest as she passed him by.

"Not in front of Benezia John," Liara said in a flushed tone. She quickly put a diaper and a yellow dress on Benezia as she made to walk out of the bedroom with her; however Shepard stood in her way as he grabbed the baby from her arms and put her on the ground.

"Go find Uncle Auron Benezia, he's got a toy for you," Shepard coaxed. Benezia crawled out of the bedroom giggling as Shepard shut the door behind her and then turned to Liara with a wanting look in his eyes. Liara just stared at him with her hands on her hips as he slowly approached his wife.

"What are you doing?" Liara asked in a slightly angry slightly playful tone.

"Making sure you don't get out of my sight until Garrus and Tali get here," Shepard said as he wrapped his arms around Liara's waist and kissed her passionately. When they separated Liara was still blushing but this time with a smile on her face. It wasn't long until the two were lying in bed panting, hand in hand with each other as they waited to catch their breath. Shepard looked toward the clock besides the bed and sighed sadly.

"Well that burned all of five minutes," he said disappointed. Liara laughed as she laid herself atop of his chest.

"A wonderful five minutes," she said truthfully, hoping to help his ego. It worked as he smiled proudly as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I was pretty great wasn't I?" Shepard asked. Liara slapped him on the chest playfully as he feigned in mock pain.

"Don't get cocky," she warned. As Shepard laughed there was a knock at their door.

"Johnny? Liara? You two in their?" Auron called out.

"Yeah Auron what's up?" Shepard called back unabashed.

"Your friends are here, they said they managed to get on an earlier ship." Shepard and Liara gave each other a terrified glance at one another as Liara called out to Auron.

"We'll be out in a minute!" she yelled worriedly.

"Well don't stop what you're doing on our account; we can wait two minutes for Shepard to finish!" The voice of Garrus Vakarian said from behind the door. Liara blushed heavily as Shepard laughed at her expense.

"Hey, I went five minutes Vakarian!" He called out causing Liara's blush to increase even further. As Garrus laughed Liara slapped Shepard again this time meaning for it to hurt.

"John! What are you doing?" She demanded in an angry whisper.

"Fighting for my honor," Shepard said unabashed as he got out of the bed. "Now put some clothes on we have guests," When the two finally managed to put clothes on and exit their bedroom they walked into the living room to see Garrus and Tali sitting together on the couch, the latter holding Benezia in her arms, as Auron sat in the easy chair with a cup of tea in his hand. At seeing Liara Tali squealed in delight as she rose from the couch and rushed to her side; Garrus arose as well but not in as big hurry as Tali was.

"Keelah it's so good to see you two!" Tali exclaimed embracing them both one at a time, refusing to let the baby in her arms go.

"I know, we seriously need to get together more often," Liara said in agreement.

"You and Shepard should visit us on Rannoch sometime!" Tali suggested excitedly.

"That's a great idea," Liara agreed as the two women began talking frantically to one another.

"Together for not even 10 minutes and already you can't tear them apart," Garrus teased as he shook Shepard's hand.

"How've you been Garrus? It's been a while,"

"Well I haven't been beating the Yahg off of Mindoir lately but I've been keeping busy," Garrus said only half joking.

"You heard about that huh?" Shepard asked.

"Oh yeah, the Primarch was astounded that the Yahg managed to pass the Alliance defenses, whether Mindoir was overly protected or not. I heard they stole Salarian ship designs but I don't recall them ever having invisible ships."

"You seem extremely well informed," Shepard said curiously. Garrus's mandibles twitched nervously as he gestured over to the squealing women.

"After Tali found out about what happened she insisted I investigate on all the leads the Alliance managed to find on Mindoir.

"Anything noteworthy?" Shepard asked seriously.

"Not much, rumors mostly. According to them Oleg Petrovsky is dead,"

"Dead?!" Shepard questioned in shock.

"Remember it's mostly rumors. The data the Geth Prime that dropped on Mindoir says that Petrovsky was against the actual attack and sent his men as a precaution to prevent too many casualties."

"Has the council said anything about it?" Shepard asked.

"I was hoping they'd have said something to you," Garrus admitted. "The original three are being extremely shut up about it and they seem to be keeping information from Bakara and Hackett knowing they'd tell us."

"You should tell Wrex that," Shepard said. "If he were to find out the council isn't being fair and equal he'd hold them all at gun point until he made an impression on them." Garrus laughed in agreement.

"I have a feeling Wrex would enjoy that a little too much, if you get my saying," Garrus joked.

"The Turian councilor would be shitting bricks," Shepard added. As the men laughed Liara and Tali finally noticed them and approached them, Tali still holding Benezia and seeming unwilling to let her go.

"So what shall we do? Are you guys hungry? We could go out to eat," Liara suggested.

"I could eat if Shepard's paying," Garrus started. Tali rolled her eyes and punched Garrus in the arm.

"That sounds lovely Liara; we can take our car,"

"Auron you want to go out to eat with us?" Shepard called out to the Salarian as he made his way to his piano on the roof.

"No thanks Johnny, I'll stay home and man the fort. You want me to watch Benezia while you're gone?" he called out.

"Noo!" Tali screamed out as she clutched to Benezia, "This little cutie isn't leaving my sight," she cooed as she cradled the baby. Benezia simply looked up at the stranger curiously as the adults all loaded into the car. It wasn't long until they were in the main city as they pulled into what would pass as a barbecue restaurant back on Earth. As they got out of the car and entered the restaurant they noticed a large group of Asari with several other species out on what seemed to be a dance floor.

"I didn't know you could dance here," Shepard said in surprise. After looking around quickly Liara pointed to a banner that was hanging over the dance floor.

"Apparently there's a dance contest going on, last one standing gets a free meal for themselves or their party,"

"Ohh Garrus! We should enter the dance contest!" Tali suggested as she bounced Benezia in her arms.

"No way," Garrus replied immediately. "If I've told you once Tali I've told you a hundred times Turians don't dance."

"But there's a Turian over there," Shepard pointed out. True to his word there dancing with several Asari was a male Turian busting a move.

"Thanks for the backup Shepard," Garrus scowled.

"And besides, you told me you and Shepard had taken dance lessons," Tali argued.

"That was over a year ago and it was only so I wouldn't look bad at their wedding," he said while pointing at Shepard and Liara.

"Please Garrus?" Tali said in a pleading tone. "It would mean a lot to me if you went dancing with me," she continued to plead. Garrus sighed as he put his hands on Tali's shoulders and looked down at the Quarian with a smile.

"I'd sooner let a Vorcha feed on my entrails," he said flatly as Tali rolled her eyes and shoved Benezia into the Turian's arms.

"You bosh'tet," she said dissapointedly as she walked off towards the dance floor. Shepard laughed as he turned to look at a laughing Liara.

"Are you going to go dancing?" Shepard asked. Liara nodded as she looked towards stomping Tali.

"Someone needs to make sure she behaves herself," she joked. "Are you going to come?" Shepard gave her a sad smile as he tapped his injured leg.

"After our private dance earlier I won't have long before I have to sit down, rain check?" he asked.

"I'll hold you to it," Liara insisted as she kissed Shepard's cheek. "Watch Benezia," she called over her shoulder as she went to catch up with Tali. As Shepard watched Liara run after Tali Garrus stood beside him frowning angrily.

"Why is it you don't get in trouble for not dancing but Tali rips me a new one?" Garrus asked. Shepard rolled his eyes as he grabbed Benezia from Garrus's arms.

"Quit whining and give me my baby," Shepard said exacerbated.

"I'm serious Shepard, what's the deal?" Garrus asked as he followed Shepard to a booth. Shepard looked towards Garrus and shot him a disappointed look.

"Because Garrus, I still suffer from being shot by a Reaper. That being said if my wife wants to go dancing 90% of the time we go dancing."

"But your awful at it," Garrus argued.

"Fine Garrus, make jokes," Shepard gave up as he looked down at a menu. "Just remember that Tali is a beautiful woman and if you keep refusing her, she may find someone who won't."

"Don't talk crazy Shepard, Tali would never leave me just because I won't dance with her," Shepard looked up from his menu and pointed to the dance floor wordlessly. Garrus followed Shepard's finger and when he saw what was on the other side his mandibles shook angrily. On the dance floor he saw Tali dancing extremely close to the Turian from before, next to Liara who was dancing with a Salarian.

"Yeah, no worries Garrus, she definitely won't leave you," Shepard said not even looking up from his menu.

"You know Liara's down there dancing with another gut to," Garrus said jealously. Shepard laughed confidently.

"Yeah but _we're _married. Liara isn't going to leave me for not dancing with here,"

"But you think Tali will leave me?" Garrus questioned, his mandibles still twitching.

"Well, they are made of the same amino chemical structure, and he is getting kind of handsy. Placing his hands on her hips and all," Garrus had had enough and stormed down to the dance floor leaving a chuckling Shepard and Benezia alone at the table. Suddenly Shepard heard the distinct sound of a fist crunching bone; Shepard stood up and saw that Garrus was now in between Tali and the Turian on the ground, apparently unconscious.

"Uh-oh," Benezia said as she played with the menu Shepard had dropped. Shepard looked down at Benezia in surprise as he sat the toddler on the table in front of him.

"That's right Benezia," Shepard said happily. "When Uncle Garrus knocks somebody out that's what you say!" Benezia clapped her hands as she gurgled happily. Several seconds later an angry Garrus followed by an amused Tali and Liara approached the table.

"That other Turian wasn't touching Tali, he was dancing with his bond mate!" Garrus snapped at Shepard. Shepard laughed as he handed Benezia to Liara.

"Really? Huh, I guess I might need to get my eyes checked," Shepard said innocently. Garrus growled until Tali grabbed him affectionately by the arm.

"Oh Garrus, I didn't know you cared," she teased lovingly.

"Of course I care," Garrus said, trying to regain control of the situation. "I just hate dancing," Tali sighed as Benezia said, "Uh-oh," again causing Liara to gasp in surprise.

"John, she said her first words!" Liara said excitedly.

"Technically that was her second time saying it," Shepard pointed out.

"What? When?" Liara asked angrily.

"Back when Garrus knocked out that Turian," Shepard said casually.

"So because of your practical joke I missed Benezia's first words?" Liara asked angrily.

"Well I wouldn't go that far," Shepard said warily. Liara handed the baby to Tali as she looked at Shepard angrily.

"Hold her," she said angrily as she approached Shepard. As Liara biotically slammed Shepard into the wall Benezia said, much to Tali and Garrus's amusement, "Uh oh," Garrus laughed as he tickled under the babies chin.

"That's right Benezia, when daddy does something stupid _that's_ what you say." Benezia clapped happily as Shepard's groans could be heard from the floor.


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 36: The Birthday Party

"Don't forget to put a couple of balloons over there John," Liara instructed. Shepard sighed as he struggled carrying a ladder in one arm and several dozen blue and yellow balloons in the other as he set up the decorative balloons all over the house.

"Can't you do this with biotics?" Shepard asked in a grumbled tone.

"No John I can't," Liara said simply as she watched Shepard sigh and climb up the ladder.

"And why not?" he asked as he tied several of the balloons onto a hook in the wall.

"Because," Liara started frustrated, "I can't use biotics to hold anything gently; the moment my biotics touched the balloons they would pop," to prove her point Liara glowed slightly as a balloon directly to Shepard's left popped, causing him to fall off the ladder and onto his back. As he moaned in pain Liara rushed to his side worriedly as she knelt down to examine him.

"I'm ok," he assured her with a groan as he stood up after a short struggle.

"Do you want me to get one of your canes?" Liara asked. "Maelon said you may need them in the-"

"No I don't want a cane," Shepard snapped as he tried to catch his breath. He looked up with an apologetic expression as he took Liara's hand. "I'm sorry," he said sadly.

"I know it's hard for you John, it's been over a year and the damage done to your leg has barely healed," Liara said understandingly.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I should take my frustration out on you. Especially today of all days," Liara smiled as she wrapped her arms around Shepard's waist.

"I can't believe it's already been a year since we had Benezia," Liara said happily.

"A lot's happened this past year, that's for sure," Shepard agreed happily. "And who knows, with a few centuries to live through who knows what else we'll see." Liara chuckled as she stood on her toes to kiss Shepard on the mouth. As she separated she laid her head on his chest as she said with clear amusement,

"Well I definitely never imagined to see a Salarian fluent in human music's," Shepard laughed as the two of them watched Auron tie the balloons to the hooks on the walls effortlessly while Benezia, standing with the aid of the kitchen's island, watched excitedly as she clutched to her Hanar Plush toy her uncle had bought for her.

"She adores him," Liara pointed out casually.

"It's mutual, if I didn't know any better I'd say he was planning to kidnap her so he could keep her all to himself."

"Now there's an idea!" Auron exclaimed excitedly, apparently over hearing the conversation between the two parents. The Salarian looked over to Benezia and said in a tempting tone, "What do you say Aniołek, do you want to run away with Uncle Auron?"

"Bwing Hana?" Benezia asked lifting the Hanar toy over her head.

"Of course! The three of us can go to Illium and eat ice cream every day!" Benezia laughed excitedly as she ran over to Auron, her chubby blue legs giving her the appearance of waddling, as she ran into his arms.

"There's your answer than Johnny," Auron said with a laugh. "Uncle Auron and ice cream beat Mom and Dad every time,"

"But Benezia if you live with Uncle Auron on Illium you won't have your party today," Liara pointed out.

"Pawty!" Benezia said excitedly as Auron put her down to waddle away dragging her Hanar behind her. Auron laughed at the sight as Shepard put a hand on Auron's shoulder.

"You realize that if you tried to kidnap my daughter I'd shoot you right?" Shepard asked jokingly.

"That's if these quiet times haven't softened your aim Johnny," Auron said with a chuckle.

"You sound like Wrex and Garrus," Shepard said sheepishly. "They think civilian life has tamed me."

"Well if it hasn't _I _certainly have," Liara said as she kissed him on the cheek before tending to other party preparations. Shepard laughed as he watched Liara walk away, admiring the view as she left.

"For the record Johnny," Auron said snapping Shepard from his trance, "I don't think the quiet times have tamed you, they've turned you into the man you were meant to be." Shepard smiled as he nodded to Auron.

"Thanks Auron," Shepard said appreciatingly as he squeezed his shoulder gently.

"Now, help me move the piano from the roof," Auron instructed.

"For what?" Shepard demanded frantically as he followed Auron up the stairs to the roof.

"For live entertainment of course!" Auron said with a cheer. "This is going to be a party right? A party needs excellent music for the occasion!" Shepard groaned as he proceeded to go up the stair after Auron when there was suddenly a knock on the door. With a confused frown Shepard hopped down the several stairs he had climbed and walked towards the front door. When he opened it he smiled greatly at the guests who had just arrived.

"Wrex! Bakara! Grunt! Nova! What are you guys doing here so early?" Shepard said happily as he greeted the entering Krogan, the men of the group each carrying poorly wrapped gifts.

"The pilot messed up on the time it would take to get here," Wrex explained. "It was the first time we had a Krogan fly a ship across several systems but I suppose since we survived that it went well." As the adults walked in they were followed by half a dozen miniature Krogan that seemed exited to be off of Tuchanka for the first time. At hearing the commotion Liara appeared as she began greeting the adult Krogan.

"And who are these little ones?" Liara asked gesturing to the little Krogan. With a quick bark five of the Krogan children ran to his side and stood from tallest to shortest. Wrex pointed to the tallest first as he named them off.

"This is our daughter Mordin," Wrex said as Mordin curtsied before Shepard and Liara as Wrex continued naming off the rest of his kids. "And these are our sons Jarrod, Wreave, Brach and Kratos," the sons didn't curtsy as Mordin had but they looked up at Shepard in awe.

"Is it twue you beat a weaper?" Brach asked excitedly.

"Did you think you could beat daddy up in a fight?" Jarrod asked.

"BOOM!" Kratos shouted loudly, causing Shepard and Liara to flinch in surprise.

"Boys," Bakara said in a warning tone, causing the boys to shake in fear as they looked up at their mother.

"Sorry mom," all the boys but Kratos said. Kratos just sat to the ground and began to cry; causing Bakara to roll her eyes as she picked up the crying infant.

"And you've already met Shepard, Shepard," Grunt said gesturing to the Krogan standing in front of him. He was a little bigger than Mordin was and had a calm look to him that for some reason surprised Shepard. The little Krogan held out his hand towards Shepard and, further surprised by the action, shook the infant Krogan's hand.

"It's a privilege to meet ye sir," he said politely, having an accent of his own but not a southern one like his mother but more of an Irish tinge to his voice.

"Likewise, Shepard," Shepard said in return. Nova seemed proud of her son's politeness while Grunt merely rolled his eyes.

"Nova's been teaching the whelp his manners, insisting that he'll need them in the future," Grunt said absently.

"And he will Grunt," Nova drawled angrily to her mate. "The Krogan aren't to be known only for their strength and brutality any more. Now that we're at peace with the galaxy we'll need to start teaching our kin new skills."

"Nova's right Grunt," Bakara said in agreement. "It's a new age for the Krogan; in fact it wouldn't be too bad if some of the males took lessons from your mate,"

"I'm polite," Wrex argued as Bakara rolled her eyes at her mate.

"I meant for the boys Wrex, but if that's what you think I'm thinking about then yes, you should get lessons to." As Liara led Nova, Bakara and the kids to meet Benezia Shepard grabbed Wrex's arm.

"Could you help me with something?" he asked. Minutes later Wrex was biotically holding the piano in the air as Shepard and Auron argued about a way to get it in the house.

"Auron this is the reason you put the piano on the roof in the first place," Shepard argued. "There aren't any openings into the house big enough for the piano to go through."

"Well maybe if we cut a hole in the roof here and here," Auron said while pointing to random parts of the roof while Shepard shook his head the entire time.

"Absolutely not, no way, not going to happen," Shepard said determinedly.

"Hey guys, I am holding a Piano here, any chance we can move this along?" After twenty minutes of arguing Auron finally accepted that he wouldn't be able to bring the piano down into the house. With a huff Wrex lowered the piano as the trio went downstairs as Auron tried to think of ways to provide music for the party. A few hours later the rest of the guests steadily began arriving for the birthday party. Liara's sisters and their husbands were the next to arrive, followed by Garrus and Tali, Kaidan, James, Dr. Chakwas and the last being Councilor Hackett. Zaeed and Kasumi had both been sent invitations but knowing their work schedules they were probably busy and couldn't be blamed for not coming. As the guests mingled and ate and enjoyed each other's company Auron could be seen frantically running up and down the stairs. As Shepard shook his head he walked over to Hackett who was busy chatting to Wrex.

"My scouts have said there hasn't been any transport on or off the planet in over six months," Wrex said in a hushed voice.

"Off of what planet?" Shepard asked as he approached the two.

"Parnack, we've been monitoring the Yahg home world since the attack on Mindoir," Hackett informed him.

"Any news?" Shepard asked curiously.

"Three months ago enough Cerberus starships landed on Parnack's surface to mount an impressive attack. I don't know if they went in to attack them or if there still together, but three months later about a dozen star ships, looked Salarian, left Parnack going in different directions. Nothing has entered or left the planet since." Wrex said.

"The Yahg stole Salarian ship designs so it's safe to assume those were their ships," Hackett said in thought. "What we need to know is what they're planning and why."

"How do we plan to do that?" Shepard asked

"We send in a human spy to pose as a Cerberus operative," Hackett said. "Whenever they can they will send news to us so we can prepare."

"Is this something we would tell the council?" Wrex asked.

"Should we?" Hackett asked. "The original three have been very mute on key details with Bakara and myself, if we should act without informing them it would be within our power to do so."

"Who would we send in?" Shepard asked.

"I've already been working on this for a while now Shepard," Hackett said. "We have an agent ready to infiltrate as a key member of Cerberus."

"Who?" Shepard asked suspiciously. Hackett seemed hesitant to tell him, so Shepard repeated the question.

"Shepard I don't think you'll like my answer," Hackett said firmly.

"Hackett, with all due respect, I am an Admiral in the Systems Alliance and I have the right to know who you plan on sending in." Hackett looked from between Shepard and an eager Wrex as he sighed in concession.

"We don't know her real name, but I believe you know her as Maya Brooks,"

"That Bitch?!" Shepard and Wrex both nearly shouted at the same time.

"Hackett you can't be serious," Shepard pleaded.

"Shepard she's the only person we have in custody that is familiar with all of Cerberus procedures and protocol. She's our best use of a mole for Cerberus, she already has a cover name from her time there and she was never officially fired by the Illusive Man. This can work Shepard."

"Assuming she doesn't stab you in the back again," Wrex snorted.

"How will we assure she doesn't?" Shepard asked curiously.

"I'm sorry Shepard but this mission has to be completely dark. The less anyone knows the better; aside from myself only three other operatives within the Alliance knows the full extent of the plan."

"What if this goes south Hackett?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"I'm prepared to take the heat on the assignment Shepard, but I feel it's necessary." Shepard looked at Hackett warily before finally nodding. Suddenly Liara got everyone's attention as she brought the birthday cake into the dining room. Auron, who had managed to hook up a microphone and wireless speaker down into the kitchen, began playing Happy Birthday while everyone else sang.

"_Happy Birthday to you  
Happy Birthday to you;_

_Happy Birthday dear Benezia,  
Happy Birthday to YOU!"_

Benezia excitedly blew out the candle on the cake and everyone clapped excitedly. As Liara began getting cake for everyone Auron played another song over the speakers while everyone ate.

"_Who invented music?  
I'd like to shake his hand  
'Cause music casts a spell on me  
That I can't understand_

_Must be some magician  
Designed a magic plan  
He changed his wand to a baton  
And that's how it all began_

_When the rhythm pounds  
And the harmony sounds  
And the melody rolls around  
"Prest-o Change-o!"  
We're ten feet off the ground  
And when the rhythm pounds  
And the harmony sounds  
And the melody rolls around  
Right from the down beat,  
We can be found  
Ten feet off the ground_

_When everybody puts his heart in it  
Everybody plays a part in it  
That's how music magic is made  
Everybody's toe's get tap-ier  
Everybody's feeling happier  
Lighter than air  
Out of his chair  
Ten feet off the ground"_

The Adults appeared to be entertained by the music as they went on about their business but the children seemed absolutely astounded by the music. So Benezia and the six Krogan all ran up the stairs as Auron continued playing his music, when he saw the heard of children walk up the stairs he smiled at their excited expression.

"Well then, what do we have here?" Auron asked.

"Uncle Orn, I play a song?" Benezia asked excitedly. Auron's heart swelled up at the question.

"Of course aniołek, here take a seat," Auron patted the seat next to him as Benezia climbed atop the bench.

"Alright aniołek here's what you do, first hit this key," he said tapping a key; Benezia copied him.

"Now this one," this went on for several moments until Auron had finished the song.

"Alright now put them all together and you'll play a song!" Auron encouraged. Benezia tapped the three keys Auron had shown her slowly as she played a choppy rendition of Hot Cross Buns. When she finished Auron clapped his hands over dramatically as Benezia laughed giddily.

"Now go on downstairs, it's time to get cake and presents!"

"BOOM!" Kratos shouted causing Auron to jump in his seat.

"No boom, cake!" Auron said as he led the Krogan ankle bitters and Benezia down the stairs. As the Krogan children were given cake Benezia was brought to the head of the table as she began to open her presents. From Nova and Grunt Benezia received a book on Krogan history, Shepard laughed assuming the gift being Nova's idea instead of Grunts. Wrex and Bakara bought her a practice dummy for fighting, no matter how hard you hit it, it would always stand back up. Liara's sisters and their bond mates gave Benezia a large collection of plush toys, Benezia's eyes lit up at the sight of them. Garrus and Tali, much to Liara's chagrin and Shepard's amusement, gave Benezia a toy sniper rifle that made rattling noises when fired.

"I'm sorry he wouldn't take no for an answer," Tali said trying to defuse the situation. Kaidan and James gave her gift cards to a local toy store on Thessia while Dr. Chakwas gave her a toy doctor's kit. Councilor Hackett, the simple man that he was, simply handed her father an envelope with a credit chit telling him to put it towards something for her future. Auron gave her a toy microphone that could play hundreds of songs as she sang (downloaded mostly with songs he approved of of course) while her parents giving her her favorite gift being her big girl bed that she'd be sleeping in from now on instead of her crib. Benezia went around hugging and thanking everybody and after several more hours the last of the guests finally departed. Liara and Shepard brought Benezia to her new bed as she tucked her in with all of her new plush toys surrounding her; however she still hung onto the Hanar obviously being her favorite. Auron was at his usual place this time at night, playing soft songs on the piano when he heard footsteps coming from the stairs. He looked towards the stairs and was surprised to see Benezia climbing up with her Hanar toy in her hands.

"Aniołek, what are you doing up this late?" Auron asked.

"Can't sleep," Benezia said stubbornly as she climbed onto the seat next to Auron. Auron smiled understandingly as he wrapped one of his arms around the infant.

"Want to play the song I taught you?" Auron asked. Benezia nodded and slowly played the song she had learned earlier. After a few minutes of them playing songs the infant began to fall asleep in her seat, noticing Auron picked her and the Hanar up and walked them downstairs to her room.

"Not sleepy," Benezia protested as Auron tucked her into the new bed.

"Of course you're not," Auron said patronizingly. "Let's just lay you down and I'll sit here with you until you want me to leave."

"Ok," Benezia said tiredly. Auron sat in silence as he watched Benezia slowly start to fall asleep. When her eyes finally closed and her breathing evened out Auron kissed her on the head gently before getting up to leave.

"I love you Uncle Orn," she said sleepily. Auron smiled as he looked back to his sleeping niece.

"I love you to aniołek,"


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 37: 4 Years Later

Shepard and Liara lied on the small beach behind the house listening to the soft tones of Auron playing the piano on the roof. Liara fidgeted uncomfortably as she looked over to Shepard desperately.

"John," she pleaded.

"No Liara," Shepard said sternly.

"But what if something happened? What if she hurt herself?" Liara argued.

"If anything had happened we would have gotten a call from the school; and besides, Korra should be here any minute now with Benezia." Liara sighed and nodded her head in acceptance as they laid there silently besides each other. For the past few weeks Benezia had been sent to the Asari equivalence of Kindergarten at a very prestigious school in Armali. Liara had wanted Benezia home schooled but Shepard had argued that she needs to have as normal a life as possible, and that included going to school. Finally Liara spoke up again causing Shepard to sigh impatiently.

"But John what if she doesn't like school?"

"No kid _likes_ school Liara, but it's important that we send her off to school so she can get an education."

"What if," Liara started lying on her side, "We hire a private tutor? That way she doesn't have to leave home."

"No," Shepard said immediately.

"How about Auron and I teach her then? I know he'd be interested in teaching Benezia,"

"Auron wants Benezia around for other reasons Liara not for teaching her," Shepard argued sternly, not wanting to discuss why. Liara nodded in apology as she put her hand into his and squeezed gently. At 39 Auron would be considered, among the Salarian people, one of the older members of their society; due to their increased metabolism most didn't live past 40, the oldest recorded Salarian being at 42. Auron, also aware of his mortality, chose not to mope and pout about it but instead spent as much time as possible with his family. As the couple lied there together they heard Liara's sister calling out from inside the house.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" Korra called out.

"We're in the back," Liara called out as she shot to her feet, racing to the house. Shepard shook his head with a smile as he hoisted himself up, ignoring the pain in his leg, as he followed Liara into the house. Benezia was there suffering from her mother's over bearing hugs as Liara continuously exclaimed how much she had missed her.

"Mommy I can't breathe," Benezia complained as her mother continued to dote her. When Liara finally pulled away from her daughter Benezia took an over dramatic breath which caused Shepard to laugh as he shut the door behind him. On seeing her dad Benezia smiled and ran towards him.

"Daddy!" she said excitedly as she hugged his leg. Shepard smiled and picked his daughter up.

"Hey Benezia, how was school?" Benezia suddenly seemed reluctant to speak and that's when Korra spoke up.

"We actually had a bit of trouble today at school," she explained.

"What? Why what happened?" Liara asked worriedly.

"Well Benezia's teacher told me that she got into a fight with one of the boys at school," Korra said.

"Benezia is that true?" Shepard asked sternly.

"He messed up my drawing," Benezia said, pouting in Shepard's arms.

"Benezia it isn't ok for you to fight others, this boy ruining your drawing isn't a good enough reason for you to fight him," Liara scolded.

"But he's mean to everyone and he makes fun of the sick Salarian boy," Benezia argued.

"I will admit that the little boy is a piece of work though," Korra said in agreement with her niece.

"Who is he?" Shepard asked.

"Just a little Turian boy; even the teacher dislikes him but his father has ties in the Turian Hierarchy so they put up with him," Korra said. Shaking his head Shepard put Benezia down on the ground and looked down at his daughter.

"I understand that this boy might be mean to everyone Benezia but you should only ever hurt someone if they hurt you first; and I think that your mother and I are going to have to punish you so you learn your lesson."

"But it's not my fault!" Benezia wailed as tears began to flow in her eyes.

"No playing outside today, you have to stay in the house and think about what you've done," Liara added sternly. Benezia stomped her foot and ran off crying as she shouted angrily "You two are the worst! I hate you!" Liara looked like she had just been slapped and was about to go after Benezia when Shepard grabbed her by the arm.

"She didn't mean it Liara, she's five," he said soothingly. "Just give her some time and she'll forget about it,"

"But didn't you hear her?" Liara demanded pointing to the running child.

"Liara relax," Korra said assuringly. "She's young she'll probably forget she was punished,"

"I didn't," Liara said worriedly. "Every time my mother and I got into an argument, young or not, I remembered it. Before we found my mother we had gotten into an argument about my choice of profession."

"Intel broker?" Korra asked.

"Prothean researcher," Shepard corrected putting a comforting hand on Liara's shoulder. He then took one of Liara's hands in his free one as he looked her in the eyes.

"Are you worried something like that will happen?" Shepard asked.

"I know it sounds silly," Liara argued. "But I don't want the strained relationship I had with my mother; I want a good one with my daughters, where they can come to me no matter what with their problems."

"And she will," Shepard assured her as he kissed her hand gently. Shepard and Liara went back outside while Korra left to go home; sitting in the center of the stairs was a pouting Benezia, still upset about being punished. As she sat there with tears in her eyes she heard someone approach from upstairs. She didn't turn her head to see who it was, already knowing who it was, and moved over so the figure would be able to walk by. Noticing his niece sitting sadly on the stairs Auron traveled down the stairs with the aid of his cane and took a seat besides Benezia.

"Well, what do we have here?" Auron asked. The previous four years hadn't been very kind to the elderly Salarian. He found that he now had to get around with the aid of a cane and the need to take a multitude of medicine each day. Also his once bright brown skin color had paled and dulled to an almost gray color. Still, if he was ever in pain or felt burdened he never showed it, he acted as upbeat and caring as ever; much to his family's gratefulness.

"Mom and Dad punished me," Benezia pouted.

"Punished you?" Auron asked in mock astonishment. "What would possess them to punish you aniołek?"

"A boy was being mean to me so I stabbed him with my crayon," Benezia admitted. Auron looked at her bug eyed before breaking out in amused laughter, after a few moments Auron took off his glasses to wipe the tears out of his eyes.

"What did the little tyke do to you aniołek, to have you contemplate stabbing him?"

"He's mean to everyone in class and he ruined my drawing," Benezia pouted.

"So he's a bully then," Auron said seriously, putting his glasses back on.

"Uh huh," Benezia agreed.

"Did this boy hurt you?" he asked worriedly.

"No, but he picks on people. Specialy the Salarian boy,"

"Well I can see why you acted aniołek, but you still shouldn't have hurt this boy unless he hurt you first,"

"That's what Daddy said," Benezia recalled.

"And he's right."

"But why did they have to punish me?" Benezia asked.

"They do it because they love you, they want you to be a good person and do what you're supposed to; and not fight people."

"But Daddy fights peoples," Benezia pointed out.

"Yes, bad people who don't listen to their parents," Auron said with a smile. "And I don't think you want to fight your dad now, do you?"

"No," Benezia sighed sadly. Auron put his arm around his nieces shoulder and looked around; suddenly with a smile and a chuckle he looked back towards Benezia.

"You know where I just realized we are?" Auron asked.

"On the stairs?" Benezia asked confused.

"Not just anywhere on the stairs, but right in the middle,"

"Why does that matter?" she asked curiously.

"Well, whenever I'm not sure about something I sit in the middle of the stairs to help me think. Sitting half way up the stairs is almost like thinking about things."

"What things?" she asked.

"Well take this bully for example," Auron started. "You don't think you did anything wrong in stabbing this boy, but your parent's told you that it was wrong right?" Benezia nodded and Auron continued his explanation. "So you, just like I do, sat in the middle of the stairs to think it over."

"I did?" Benezia asked.

"Well, subconsciously maybe. But that's getting into an entire conversation about mental abilities and precognitive thinking and I don't think you want me to explain that." At seeing Benezia's confused face Auron couldn't help but laugh.

"How about I just sing you a song, aniołek?"

"Ok!" Benezia said excitedly. Auron cleared his throat and sang the perfect song built into the situation.

"_Halfway down the stairs is a stair where I sit  
There isn't any other stair quite like it._

_I'm not at the bottom  
I'm not at the top  
So this is the stair where I always stop._

_Halfway up the stairs isn't up and isn't down  
It isn't in the nursery  
It isn't in the town_

_And all sorts of happy thoughts run round my head  
It really isn't anywhere,  
It's somewhere else instead._

_Halfway down the stairs is a stair where I sit  
There isn't any other stair quite like it.  
_

_I'm not at the bottom  
I'm not at the top  
So this is the stair where I always stop."_

Auron looked down at Benezia and smiled before kissing her gently atop her head.

"Think about it," he said gently. With a groan he stood up and went back upstairs; Benezia continued to sit there for a time to think. After a while she came upon a conclusion and walked downstairs, she noticed that her parents weren't in the house or in their room so she went outside where she found them sitting at the outside table drinking their adult drinks. Benezia opened the door and shut it behind her as she walked towards her parents. Noticing their daughter approach Shepard and Liara turned around to speak to Benezia.

"Benezia, didn't we say you couldn't play outside today?" Shepard asked patronizingly.

"Yes," Benezia said sheepishly as she stood in front of the table her parents were sitting at.

"Then what are you doing out here?" Shepard asked, a little more gently this time.

"I'm sorry I shouted at you," she said sheepishly as she looked down at her feet. Shepard and Liara looked at one another and then back to Benezia.

"Is that so?" Shepard asked calmly as he silently urged Benezia to do the same. "And why did you shout at us?"

"I was angry, and I wanted to play outside," Benezia answered. Liara looked towards Shepard pleadingly, silently asking for permission to forgive her when Shepard finally relented and nodded with a small smile. Liara got out of her seat and went to a knee as Benezia ran into her arms for a hug.

"It's alright baby, we forgive you," she said happily.

"I don't hate you Mommy, or Daddy, I was just angry," Benezia said, starting to cry. Liara shushed her daughter gently as she said in a strained voice, "I know baby, I know," From inside the house Auron was watching the series of events happily. As he smiled he walked into the kitchen where he reached for his tea pot in the shelf; as he prepares his trade mark cup of tea he begins to sing a song he'd been working on for the last few months. He didn't have all the lyrics finished but when he played the song on the piano the melody really swung.

"_Buh bup buh dum  
Oh when the dust clears  
I'm not the one bup buh duh dum._

_I took my share of lumps,  
Bop bop bop duh baddup bop!  
But I'm still standing,_

_Bop buh bum –_ Ackh!"

Auron dropped the tea pot and grabbed at his chest in pain as he began coughing violently. When his chest finally calmed down he looked at his hand that he had been coughing into, the palm of his hand was covered in green blood. As Auron's breathing became stable the realization of what had happened became clear. Auron looked down at his hand and then back out to his family outside. Feeling tears form in his eyes Auron took a seat at the kitchen table putting his head in his clean hand. For the first time in Auron's life, he was afraid of what was to come.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 38: The Legacy of Auron Bournemouth

Auron didn't know how long he remained sitting at the kitchen table; all he did know was that his time was dwindling. He heard Shepard and Liara approach the door and immediately calmed himself and wiping his hand on a nearby napkin as the family walked in, Benezia being held in her father's arms.

"Goddess Auron, what happened?" Liara asked worriedly as she gestured to the broken tea pot on the ground.

"Oh it was nothing," Auron said in feigned calmness, managing to mask the anxiety he was feeling. With a smile he rose from his seat as Liara knelt down to pick up the broken tea pot shards on the ground.

"Oh no, it was your favorite one to," Liara said apologetically as she knelt to take care of the mess.

"Oh don't worry about that mess, I'll clean it up later," Auron insisted as he helped Liara off the floor. "Why don't I make us dinner tonight? I feel as if I need to make something special tonight," Ignoring the protests of Liara and Shepard Auron sat the couple and child around the table as he immediately began preparing what could only be described as a magnificent feast. Within several hours Auron had placed on the table almost a dozen plates filled with an array of food that made everyone's mouth drop in surprise and astonishment.

"Auron this all looks amazing!" Shepard said appreciating as he looked at the buffet placed before them. In those short few hours Auron made a dozen beautiful dishes all different from the next. On several plates were a display of steak, ribs, pork and smoked fish along with several other plates filled with exotic Asari looking foods. And of course for Benezia Auron had prepared a simple meal of chicken and French fries that the toddler dug into excitedly.

"Auron aren't you going to join us?" Liara asked before filling her plate, Shepard had already started piling food onto his plate while Benezia was already eating her French fries happily.

"Oh I will, but only once my chocolate mousse cheese cake is finished," Auron said suggestively.

"Yaaaay! Caaaaake!" Benezia cheered happily, throwing French fries into the air in excitement. Shepard laughed at the sight while Liara merely shook her head with a small smile on her face. When Auron had finally placed the cake in the middle of the table surrounded by the rest of the plates of food he took his seat across from the rest of the family.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Shepard asked curiously as he raised a rib off of his plate and pointed it towards Auron.

"Oh no, I'm not that hungry," Auron said with a small smile.

"So you made all of this delicious food and you're not going to have any?" Liara asked skeptically. Auron chuckled uneasily as he nodded his head.

"Perhaps I'll have some cake later. Oh, that reminds me," Auron shot from the table and went into the liquor cabinet, from within he pulled out a bottle that both Shepard and Liara had never seen before along with three glasses from the cabinet. As he poured the brown liquor into the glasses he recalled fondly,

"I remember buying this bottle after leaving Sur'kesh, over ten years ago. I've been saving it for a special occasion."

"And what is the occasion?" Shepard asked curiously. Auron faltered in pouring the drinks for a split second before looking up towards Shepard and Liara with a smile.

"What more of an occasion do I need then to honor my family," as he handed the glasses to Shepard and Liara he raised his towards them with a small smile. "For the last five years the two of you have allowed me to live in your home and have treated me like family, I want you to know that I am forever grateful and will look back on our times together with fondness."

"To family then," Shepard said clinking his glass together with Auron's, Liara followed suit and afterwards they all downed the contents of their drinks.

"Wow, that's really smooth," Shepard admired.

"I agree, is it a Salarian brew?" Liara asked.

"Believe it or not it's a Krogan recipe; apparently they're good for something else other than Ryncol,"

"What's it called?" Shepard asked.

"Champion's Mouth Wash, the drink of choice for getting the taste of your enemies blood out of your mouth," Auron said while reading the label on the bottle.

"Why haven't I seen that bottle in their before?" Shepard asked curiously.

"Please, every time Aeythyta comes over she drinks half the liquor cabinet, and you can't get this in Citadel space," Auron said possessively. "I put in a false wall to hide a few bottles for when she comes over."

"Wish you had told me that, I'm spending hundreds of credits on booze I don't even get to drink."

"Daddy what's booze?" Benezia asked curiously with chocolate and cheesecake mashed all over her face. Liara shot Shepard a dirty look but her husband ignored the look and responded honestly,

"Booze is a juice for adults Benezia,"

"YAAAAAY JUICE!" Benezia cheered tossing several of her French fries in the air. Liara couldn't help but laugh as she shook her head and picked Benezia up from her seat.

"I think someone got more cake on their face then in their mouth,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Auron demanded, who had just shoved his cake into his face getting a laugh from Benezia.

"Come on Benezia, I think it's time for your bath." As Liara carried Benezia to the bathroom Auron proceeded to wipe the cake off of his face. When Liara was out of sight Shepard turned to Auron with a serious look on his face.

"Alright is something wrong Auron?" he asked worriedly.

"What do you mean?" Auron asked.

"Come on Auron: an extravagant meal, liquor for a special occasion, telling me about your hidden liquor stash. What's going on?" Auron looked over at Shepard and sighed sadly.

"I don't have much time left Johnny," Auron said sadly. Shepard was about to question him when realization crossed his face.

"It happened didn't it? That warning Salarians get before they die?" Auron didn't reply but he nodded his head sadly. "How long do you have?" Shepard asked.

"Maybe until tomorrow, at most," Auron said sadly.

"Well then we need to get you to a hospital," Shepard said as he shot from his seat.

"It won't do any good Johnny, Salarians have been researching ways to lengthen our lives for centuries and nothing has worked without any ill effects."

"So there's nothing we can do?" Shepard asked frantically.

"There is, help me enjoy my last day." Auron said simply. "Aside from that I've done everything medically possible to keep the pain minimal. It's in fate's hands now." Shepard looked over to Auron regretfully at the Salarian as he asked plainly,

"Why didn't you tell us before?"

"I didn't want to worry you," Auron admitted. "I had made the necessary preparations for when I passed years ago so there wasn't any reason to tell you I wasn't doing well; it would have made you and Liara uncomfortable,"

"But how were we to react when we found your corpse?" Shepard demanded.

"Sad I hoped," Auron said with a small smile. Shepard couldn't believe it, Auron was close to dying and he was still making jokes. Shepard sighed as he took his seat back at the table.

"So what do you want to do then, for your last day? I promise if it's possible I'll make it happen,"

"It is possible and you've already been doing it," Auron said as he stood from the table. "A nice evening with my family. That's all I've ever wanted." Seconds later Liara returned out of the bathroom with a cleaned Benezia in her arms now wearing her Pajamas and clutching her Hanar plushy.

"Well I finally managed to chisel the cake off of Benezia's face, and she's officially squeaky clean," to show this she squeezed Benezia's cheek gently causing the infant to giggle at the attention. "So what do you want are we going to do now?" Before Auron had a chance to say anything Shepard stood up from his seat.

"Well Auron and I have been talking… and we agreed that it's about time we taught Benezia about good music, isn't that right Auron?" Auron gave a sly smile as he shot up from his chair excitedly.

"You're absolutely right Johnny, you wait here and I'll get the record player." Minutes later Auron returned carrying Shepard's father's old record player and a case filled with records. As Auron flipped through the records he found a suitable one and smiled happily.

"Ahh here we are, a classic from Mr. Dean Martin," Auron popped the record into the record player and seconds later a scratchy rendition of the song began to play.

"_How lucky can one guy be?  
I kissed her and she kissed me  
Like the fella once said, ain't that a kick in the head._

_The room was completely black  
I hugged her and she hugged back.  
Like the sailor said quote, 'ain't that a hole in the boat?'_

_My head keeps spinning,  
I go to sleep and keep grinning  
If this is just the beginning, my life's gonna be beautiful!_

_I've got sunshine enough to spread  
It's like the fella said  
Tell me quick ain't that a kick in the head?"_

"How is it," Liara starts as the music continues to play, "That a centuries year old device and it's equally as old discs are still functional?"

"My father had the mechanics of the record player replaced with current tech at the time to help it run smoother," Shepard explained.

"And the records?" Liara asked.

"Taking care of the disks and a little elbow grease to keep them in good condition," Auron replied as he stood in front of Liara who was sitting on the couch and held out a hand to her. "May I have this dance Signora?" he asked smoothly. Liara smiled coyly at the Salarian as she took his hand and proceeded to dance. As Auron and Liara continued to dance Shepard watched amused as Benezia clapped excitedly at the sight of her mother and uncle dancing.

"You dance good Mommy and Uncle Auron," Benezia said while clapping. Before Liara had time to answer Auron lowered her in a dip surprising his Asari dancing partner.

"If you keep dancing like that you're going to make me jealous," Shepard said profusely as he eyed his wife in his mentor's dip.

"Then maybe you should do something about it," Liara teased as she was lifted from the dip. Shepard jumped up from the couch as he jokingly pushed Auron out of Liara's grasp.

"Stand aside Bournemouth I'm cutting in," As Auron stepped back with a chuckle the couple was prepared to dance when the record ended.

"Hold on hold on," Auron pleaded as he ran through his albums for another song. After several seconds Auron exclaimed a pleased "Ahhah" as he held up a record for the others to see.

"Another classic from my good friend Sinatra," As soon as the music starts Liara and Shepard already have their arms wrapped around one another and start to dance.

_"A fine romance, with no kisses  
A fine romance, my friend this is_

_We should be like a couple of hot tomatoes  
But you're as cold as yesterday's mashed potatoes_

_A fine romance, you won't nestle  
A fine romance, you won't wrestle_

_I might as well play bridge  
With my old maid aunt_

_I haven't got a chance  
This is a fine romance_

_A fine romance, my good fellow  
You take romance, I'll take jello_

_You're calmer than the seals  
In the Arctic Ocean  
_

_At least they flap their fins  
To express emotion_

_A fine romance with no quarrels  
With no insults and all morals_

_I've never mussed the crease  
In your blue serge pants_

_I never get the chance  
This is a fine romance"_

As Shepard and Liara continue dancing to the tune Auron stands up and holds out a hand towards Benezia.

"Come on Aniołek, lets show em how to dance," Benezia smiles as she crawls off the couch and holds her hands out towards Auron. Auron lifts her up gently and places her feet atop of his, causing her to mooch off of his dancing skills. As Auron dances around with Benezia the toddler laughs hysterically as she looks towards her mom and dad.

"Mommy Daddy look! I'm dancing!" Shepard and Liara laughed at their daughter's excitement as the quartet continued to dance to the song. Hours passed and the group continued to listen to music, dance, and reminisce about their times together. Finally, sometime after midnight, Benezia had fallen asleep on Auron's lap and even Liara was beginning to yawn tiredly.

"Well it's extremely late, I think it's time for me to go to bed," Liara declared as stood from the couch with a yawn.

"Ahh come on Liara, the nights still young!" Shepard encouraged, not wanting his wife to fall asleep just quite yet.

"Sorry John," Liara said apologetically as she headed to their bedroom.

"No worries Liara, I had a great time tonight," Auron said appreciatingly.

"So did I, we need to do things as a family more often," Liara suggested pleasantly. She didn't notice Auron's smile waver at the comment as she continued to head towards her room. "Make sure to bring Benezia to bed John, I don't want her to sleep on the couch again."

"Will do," Shepard called out as Liara disappeared into the bedroom. Shepard turned to Auron who was rubbing Benezia's back gently as she slept.

"So what do you want to do now?" Shepard asked. Auron looked up from the sleeping Asari and smiled sadly towards Shepard.

"I think it's time to call it a night Johnny," Auron declared.

"You mean…" Shepard was unable to finish his sentence.

"No not yet," Auron assured him, frowning slightly at the notion. "But soon I fear," he whispered sadly.

"Well come on then, let's think of something else, you want to listen to more Sinatra?" Shepard insisted heading towards the pile of records.

"No Johnny, I think it's time."

"Auron," Shepard pleaded before Auron held up a hand to silence him.

"Johnny this is hard for me for so many reasons. This is the first time where I'm afraid if I won't wake up again, and if I do then it just means I won't be able to leave peacefully in my sleep. Better we end our last day in high spirits yes?" Auron stood up holding Benezia to his chest as he looked down at Shepard. Shepard looked up at Auron before standing up to look him in the eyes.

"Auron…" Shepard started, unable to finish. He felt that no matter what he said wouldn't do his mentor and friend any justice. Auron smiled though as he put his free hand on Shepard's shoulder affectionately.

"I never had any kids of my own Johnny, due to my family's hubris and my inability to settle down, but I always thought of you as the son I never had," Shepard could feel the tears welling up in his eyes and he knew that he'd break from Auron's words.

"I always felt the same Auron. Back then, you were one of the only people who gave a damn about me. I can't tell you how many times I wanted my life to end without you," Unable to hold himself back Shepard quickly embraced Auron tightly, ignoring his daughter caught in the middle of their embrace. Auron wrapped the arm not holding Benezia around Shepard's shoulder and held him tightly against himself.

"I'm going to miss you Auron," Shepard said sadly as he pulled away from the old Salarian.

"I know Johnny, but don't worry. Given a century or two you'll forget about me," Auron teased.

"Never," Shepard responded. As Shepard wiped at his eyes he pointed to Benezia in Auron's arms. "Do you want to put Benezia to bed?"

"Please, if you don't mind." Shepard shook his head as he headed towards his bedroom. As he walked to his bedroom he stopped as Auron called out to him. He froze and looked back towards the Salarian who seemed to have tears slowly beginning to form in his eyes.

"Thank you, for everything Johnny," Shepard nodded, not able to say anything and walked into his bedroom. As he stripped to his briefs he crawled into the bed besides Liara who responded to his entrance into the bed by wrapping an arm around his chest. She noticed he was in a disturbed mood and propped herself on her arms as she faced him.

"John what's wrong?" she asked worriedly. Thankfully she couldn't see the tears that had streaked his face. Wiping his face clear Shepard shook his head as he turned towards Liara.

"Nothing, just… come here," Shepard wrapped his arms around Liara's waist tenderly and pulled her close to him. Sensing that her bond mate was hurting but not sure why Liara wrapped her arms around his after kissing him gently on the mouth.

As Shepard disappeared into his room Auron walked up the stairs to Benezia's room where he gently tucked her into bed with her Hanar plushy. Once the blankets were over her he kissed her gently on the brow before rising from the bed and walked toward the door.

"Uncle Auron?" a sleepy voice called from behind. Auron turned around immediately to see Benezia sitting up in bed rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Aniołek what are you doing up? You need to get to sleep," Auron said as he wiped the tears from his eyes and took a seat on Benezia's bed.

"But I don't want to," Benezia pouted sleepily. Auron chuckled as he caressed his nieces face gently.

"Do you want me to lie with you for a bit?" Auron asked. Benezia nodded as Auron lied down besides Benezia, his long legs sticking out from the end of the bed. They laid down in silence as Benezia's eyes slowly fluttered shut as she grasped tightly to her Hanar. Auron lied their silently, watching Benezia slowly fall asleep. Finally the little Asari seemed to have fallen asleep; as Auron gently rose out of the bed again he heard a tiny voice from behind him.

"Uncle Auron?" a half asleep Benezia called out.

"Yes?"

"I love you Uncle Auron," Benezia said sleepily. Auron felt the tears return to his eyes as he nodded his head at his niece.

"I love you to aniołek, and I always will," Auron said unable to keep his voice calm. He finally left Benezia's room and walked into his room where he decided to finish a few things he had been working on. He also sent a message to Lorik back on Noveria while he also recorded a final message for his family and several note pads with information before standing up again. Changing out of his clothes he put on the Salarian tux he had worn at Shepard and Liara's wedding, he hadn't had any reason to wear it since. Once he had changed he walked up the stairs to the roof for one final time before taking a seat at his stool.

"Well old friend we've been through a lot together, hopefully Liara and Johnny won't sell you once I've gone." As Auron admired his piano for a few moments he cracked his fingers as he allowed them to hover over the piano's keys.

"How about we play one more song together, aye old friend?" Auron began playing what would be known as his final song on this piano as he sang what would come to be known as his swan song.

"_The time for us to say good bye is near,  
The day I hoped would never come is here.  
Though many hearts are broken we must somehow carry on  
Cuz I think I'm going to miss you when I'm gone._

_I thought my life was over when we met  
So little to remember, so much to forget.  
Though it was you who saw me through, the darkness to the dawn  
Still, I think you're going to miss me when I'm gone._

_I'm a modest man and it hurts me to say these things to you  
After all we've been through, it's the least that I can do.  
So, instead of just goodbye I'll say so long  
For the light by which you see me, leave it on._

_I'm a better man than I was before, knowing you has made me strong  
And I sure am gonna miss you when I'm gone  
Yes, I sure am gonna miss you when I'm gone."_

As Auron finished playing his final song he put his hand to his chest and realized just how tired he really was. Getting up haggardly he slowly descended the first set of stairs from the roof to the upper level of the house as he walked slowly into his room. He took a seat on the bed and removed his glasses, putting them on the night stand beside the bed. With a groan he picked his legs up and put them on the bed where he sighed in relief from the break in pressure. As Auron lied there atop the covers of his bed (not wanting to make a mess of the room when they found him) he realized that his breathing was becoming slower and more haggard. As he closed his eyes he smiled, happy of the way he was able to spend his last day.

_The Next Day_

Benezia woke up earlier than usually normally her parents were up before her. As she swung her little legs over the side of her bed she realized something was off about the house. She finally realized that it was too quiet; normally her uncle was up earlier than anyone playing on the piano. Grabbing her Hanar she rushed out of her room and climbed up the stairs to the roof to see what the problem was. When she arrived at the roof the toddler was confused as to why her Uncle wasn't there, she couldn't remember a time he wasn't on the roof playing the piano. In fact her mother had scolded him for playing the piano even when it rained. Confused Benezia went down the stairs and went towards her Uncle's room; Benezia had never seen him sleep before but maybe he was really tired from playing all night the day before. As she approached his door she knocked on it politely calling out to her Uncle.

"Uncle Auron? Are you sleeping?" she asked innocently. When there was no reply Benezia carefully opened the door to her Uncle's room and called out to him.

"Uncle Auron?" She was relieved to see her Uncle lying on his bed, but why was he wearing his dress clothes. Benezia walked toward his form and shook him gently trying to awaken her Uncle.

"Wake up Uncle Auron, you need to play the piano and teach me my piano lessons," she pleaded innocently. When she went to pull on his hand she gasped at its feel, his hand was stone cold.

"Uncle Auron?" Benezia called out worriedly. When he failed to move Benezia dropped her Hanar and ran down the stairs and towards her parent's room. Not bothering to knock on the door she barged in and jumped onto the foot of her parent's bed climbing towards them; it was then that she began to worry, would Mommy and Daddy be cold and not wake up to? Fortunately when she got between them she felt their body heat radiating from their bodies and, much to their dismay, woke up at Benezia's prodding.

"Mommy, Mommy wake up!" Benezia demanded as she shook her mother awake.

"Nghh," Liara initially responds as she stirs awake. When her vision clears she notices Benezia in between her and Shepard.

"Nghh… Benezia? What are you doing up this early?" Liara asked sleepily.

"Mommy something's wrong I need you," Benezia pleaded.

"Ask your father for help then Benezia. Or ask your Uncle, he's probably awake right now," Liara said tiredly as she turned around putting her back to Benezia. Benezia scrunched her face stubbornly as she started to shake her mother again.

"But Mom! It's about Uncle Auron, something's wrong,"

"What do you mean, what's wrong with your Uncle?" Liara asked now slightly flustered but also worried by her daughter's words.

"When I woke up this morning I saw that Uncle Auron wasn't playing his music, so I went to check on him on the roof but he wasn't there, so then I went into his room to check on him and he _was_ there; but he was cold and wearing his dress clothes and he wouldn't wake up when I shook him." Realizing what Benezia had just said Liara's face paled as she shot up from the bed and quickly put on her robe hanging from the closet door before racing out of her room and towards the stairs with Benezia close behind. From the bed Shepard lied there awake and crying as tears silently fell from his face, already aware of the event that had taken place. Liara quickly entered Auron's room and froze at the sight of Auron's form lying on top of the bed with his dress clothes on.

"Auron!" Liara called out desperately as she ran to the bed. The minute she put her hands on him she realized what had happened. With a shaky hand she brought two of her fingers to the Salarian's neck and paled when there was nothing there.

"Goddess," she cried out as she stepped away from the body. As she turned to get Shepard she was surprised to see that he was standing in the doorway, his eyes red and puffy, when it dawned upon her that Shepard had known and that was why he was disturbed last night.

"Oh John," Liara cried as she ran towards him wrapping her arms around him. "I am so sorry John," Liara cried as the tears began to fall from her face. Shepard didn't say anything but wrapped his arms around his wife as he silently cried along with her.

"What is it, what's wrong with Uncle Auron?" Benezia asked, oblivious to what was going on. Liara looked down at Benezia and, after rubbing the tears from her eyes, knelt down beside her daughter.

"Oh baby I'm so sorry, but Uncle Auron is gone," Liara said trying to keep her explanation simple.

"But he's right there Mommy, where did he go?" Liara seemed distraught on how to explain the event to her daughter but it was Shepard who ended up speaking up.

"What your mom is trying to say is that your Uncle is dead Benezia," Shepard said simply and bluntly.

"What?" Benezia asked panicked and afraid. "B-b-but Uncle Auron wasn't sick or hurt," she blubbered as tears began to form at her eyes.

"No but Uncle Auron was old, and it was his time to-"

"NO!" the infant pouted angrily as the tears freely flowed down her face. "Uncle Auron is NOT dead! He's asleep!" she argued stubbornly.

"Oh baby," Liara started trying to wrap her arms around her daughter, unfortunately Benezia wasn't going to take it. She pushed her mother away and ran past her parents and out the door, they didn't follow her but they heard her slam the door to her room. Liara remained on her knees crying about the situation. Shepard knelt down to comfort his wife by wrapping a supportive arm around her. She cried openly in his shoulder for a few minutes and he refused to cry as well, needing to be strong for her sake. After a few minutes she finally calmed down enough to speak out loud.

"Glyph!" She yelled bitterly.

"_How may I be of assistance to you Dr. T'soni?"_ the VI asked dutifully.

"Did Auron prepare anything last night?" Liara asked through tears.

"_Indeed he did, he left several data pads filled with undeletable files along with a holo message. All of these items can be found on his desk._" To prove himself Glyph floated towards the desk right above the items he had listed. Shepard walked toward the desk and grabbed the holo message, activating it before putting it back on the desk. When it activated a mini version of Auron stood atop of the holo reader as he looked straight on at Shepard and Liara.

"_To my family, if you're hearing this then I am no longer one of this world and have passed on. Now before you accuse me for not telling you I only knew since yesterday, and didn't want to tell any of you for the sake of making you worry. I'm sorry if it seemed cruel of me, but I wanted to spend one final evening with you all before my death. I know that you all will morn me but I ask that you do not blame yourselves for my passing as I'm sure Johnny probably is. I did everything within my power to prolong my death but unfortunately it wasn't enough. Now the data pads I have prepared on the desk our audio tapings of my music along with the sheet music used to play them on the piano, there's also a system in them to allow Benezia to continue with her lessons. Also I have a separate message for Benezia that I recorded specifically for her, I know she will be upset but it may help her calm down. I want you all to know that the last five years I spent with you all were the best of my life. I thank you, and hope that we may one day meet again."_

The holo image of Auron disappeared as the message came to an end. For several minutes neither Shepard nor Liara were willing to move. Finally, after ten minutes or so, Shepard bent down to pick up Benezia's Hanar along with the holo message on the desk. As he walked towards the door Liara called out to him.

"Be gentle with her John," she pleaded. Shepard nodded as he walked out of the room and towards Benezia's room. He quietly opened the door to her room and walked in where he saw Benezia crying into the pillow case. She didn't react to Shepard's entrance until he took a seat on her bed.

"Go away!" her muffled shout said coming from the pillow.

"But there's someone here to see you," Shepard said warmly. Benezia looked up curiously from her pillow as Shepard activated the second message from Auron. When his form appeared Benezia shot up straight in shock.

"_Hello aniołek, I'm sorry I couldn't have you wake up to music today."_

"What happened Uncle Auron?" Benezia cried to the holographic image. Fortunately the message answered her question.

"_I'm sorry for leaving aniołek, but I got old and when people get to old they eventually have to die. But I want you to know that I am very proud of you and will always be proud of you no matter what you do; and know that I'll always be watching out for you aniołek. I love you very much,"_

"I love you to Uncle Auron," Benezia cried as the image of Auron disappeared. Shepard handed the plush Hanar to her daughter who took it with one hand and hugged Shepard tightly around the neck with his other.

"Is it my fault Daddy?" Benezia asked between tears.

"Of course not," Shepard assured her. "It's like Uncle Auron said, he was just old." Shepard carried Benezia out of her room and back to Auron's room where Liara was still there staring at Auron's corpse. As Shepard walked into the room he wrapped his free arm around Liara's shoulder who grasped his hand for strength. As the family mourned for their Uncle, mentor, and friend they couldn't help but feel proud that he had died with a smile on his face.

AN: Hey guys, this chapter was hard for me to write for a number of reasons but I hope you all liked it all the same. Also I want you to know that in my notes for this story Auron's death is one of the milestones in where things start to heat up. There's still more than plenty of the story left but the entrance of new characters will be initiated soon. Also I was considering writing a side story depicting Auron's life back on Sur'kesh. It wouldn't be under A New Kind of War but of one on its own. Let me know if that's something you'd be interested in reading and I'll start working on it. Please review, you guys know I love those and I'll have the next chapter up ASAP, so until then.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 39: The Legacy of Auron Bournemouth Part 2

A week later after Auron's death the family was still struggling through fits of depression. They had held a funeral for Auron the next day, a small ceremony where only his immediate family and Aethyta attended. The unusual quietness in the house was greatly disturbing everyone, they severely missed Auron and his jovial expression and his constant desire to play music. Everyone was doing what they could to keep busy. Liara had surrounded herself in her work, not having left the terminal for three days, while Shepard sat outside most days with a six pack of beer as he watched the water lap onto the beach over and over again. If he concentrated hard enough he was able to hear remnants of Auron's music in the wind. Benezia had taken Auron's death the hardest visibly, the toddler wouldn't talk to anyone and clutched to the Hanar her Uncle had gotten her as if it was a life line.

As Shepard continued to watch the water Glyph flew from inside the house towards Shepard while beeping frantically.

"_Admiral Shepard there is a visitor for you at the front door,"_ Glyph informed dutifully.

"Send him away Glyph, I don't feel like seeing anyone right now," Shepard said absently.

"_I'm sorry but the figure says that he has an appointment here that was scheduled by Auron," _Glyph informed. Shepard froze for a moment and looked towards the house suspiciously; sighing he lifts himself from the chair and progressed inside the house and towards the front door. When he opens it he was surprised to see the Administrator of Port Hanshan at his door step.

"Admiral Shepard, it is an honor to see you again," Lorik said politely.

"Lorik, I have to say I'm surprised to see you here," Shepard admitted suspiciously.

"Yes, well, I was instructed not to meet with you until the death of one of my clients back on Noveria. I received word of his death and came here as per our agreement."

"And who is this client of yours?" Shepard asked suspiciously.

"Auron Bournemouth," Lorik said bluntly. Shepard thought for a moment before stepping out of the doorway and inviting the Turian into the house. As Lorik progressed to the kitchen Shepard called out to Liara.

"Liara come here, we have a guest." A few minutes later Liara came into the kitchen and stopped in surprise at seeing Lorik.

"Lorik, this is a pleasant surprise," she said politely.

"I'm sorry for coming unannounced but I was following the terms of my agreement with Mr. Bournemouth."

"Why don't you have a seat and explain exactly what you mean," Shepard asked. As Lorik took a seat at the kitchen table Liara and Shepard took their seats across from him. Lorik brought his briefcase onto the table and opened it as he began to sort paper work onto the table.

"Now I'm not sure if you were already aware but Mr. Bournemouth had invested heavily in numerous stocks on Noveria," Lorik informed.

"Yes along with Ilium he told me," Shepard answered.

"Very good, well approximately five years ago he had me write up his will where he left all of his stock, finances and estates, although he had most of his physical assets liquidated and transferred to credits into his personal accounts.

"We know Auron had around eight million credits up stairs, we found his credit chit after his… passing," Liara informed sadly. "Was that the majority of his money?" Lorik's mandibles vibrated amusedly as he grabbed a stack of papers.

"You mean tell me you don't know how much he had?" Lorik asked.

"No why?" Shepard asked.

"Mr. Bournemouth, as of several years ago, can be confirmed to be one of the richest members of Citadel Space.

"What do you mean?" Liara asked confused. Lorik handed over a data pad towards the couple.

"Here is a list of the assets that have been left to you in Mr. Bournemouth's will; he left you everything in fact Admiral." Shepard looked at Lorik curiously before reaching for the data pad Lorik had handed to him. As he read the data pad his eyes slowly grew wider and wider until he began to shake uncontrollably from shock.

"John what's wrong?" Liara asked worried by her bond mate's reaction. Shepard looks from Liara to the data pad and back at Liara again, unable to say anything coherent as he looked at the data pad gasping for air.

"What is it?" Liara demanded unable to hold her curiosity. She grabbed the data pad from Shepard's hands and began reading through the data pad; after only several seconds of reading Liara dropped the data pad like it had bit her while gasping, "Goddess!" as it landed on the table.

"I must say your reaction was more entertaining than I would have imagined," Lorik admitted with a chuckle.

"Do you know how much is here?" Shepard finally managed to ask pointing warily towards the data pad.

"As a matter of fact I do," Lorik declared casually. "Although the rates have increased since Mr. Bournemouth and I last spoke I know exactly how much and what he left you, most of which isn't on that data pad."

"You mean there's more?! Shepard asked in shock.

"Of course," Lorik said assuringly. "That's not even counting the revenue from the stocks on Noveria he left you," Shepard began to shake from excitement slightly as he handed the data pad shakily back to Lorik.

"Please tell us what he left us; I fear if we read it we're going to drop the pad every three seconds."

"Of course Admiral," Lorik said with a chuckle. "Auron Bournemouth left you, in no particular order:

85% of controlling interest in Binary Helix, worth at approximately 8.9 Billion credits

43% of ERCS, worth 46 million credits

The liquidated assets of several houses which has been added to his personal accounts

A mansion located on the human colony of Bekenstein

And everything left in his personal bank accounts," Lorik declared.

"How much?" Liara asked, shaking in shock from the announcement. Lorik paused for dramatic effect as he looked at both Shepard and Liara before saying in an almost jealous tone,

"879 million credits after taxes,"

Shepard fell from his chair at the sound of the number as Liara put her hand to her chest in even more shock than before.

"879 million credits?!" Liara exclaimed. "You could buy a small planet with that kind of money,"

"How did Auron get that kind of money?" Shepard demanded, finally under control of his emotions.

"For the most part it was from the revenue generated from his stocks in Binary Helix and ERCS," Lorik informed. "But he rarely used any of it and relied on the Administrator of Port Hanshan to manage his funds." As Shepard and Liara looked at each other ecstatically Lorik handed over several contracts and a pen towards Shepard and Liara. "All I need now Admiral is your signature on these contracts and we can proceed, I'll give you time to read and analyze the contracts."

"Glyph!" Liara called frantically.

"_Yes Dr. T'soni?"_ Glyph asked dutifully.

"Please examine and analyze these contracts,"

"_Right away,"_ Glyph declared. A blue light came from his front and scanned each contract, learning their contents immediately. "_These contracts are standard sign over papers Doctor, no loop holes or loss of assets through signing can be found."_

"Thank you Glyph," Liara said as Shepard began signing the contracts. Once he finished he handed them over to Lorik.

"Very good, now to move on. Now you will receive a monthly check from your stocks every month, which will give you a combined total of approximately 84 million credits a month. Along with that know that Auron sold and liquidated all of his stock on Ilium so there will be no increased revenue from those. He also has a separate trust fund set aside for a… Benezia T'soni? I assume that's your daughter?"

"That's right," Liara responded.

"Very well, well then it's been written here that once Benezia T'soni reaches the age of 150 she will be permitted access to her trust consisting of 200 million credits set aside for her use." Shepard and Liara looked at one another shocked at this. Not only had Auron given a large fortune to the family as a whole but also a small fortune to his niece.

"I- I don't know what to say," Shepard admits in shock. "I never even knew he had this kind of money,"

"From what I learned the few times I met him he was a simple but brilliant man, I assume it was from his familial ties."

"What do you mean?" Liara asked. Lorik reached into his briefcase and pulled out another data pad and then looked at the couple warily.

"This is highly classified information, it's doubtful that even the Shadow Broker would know this and Auron paid a great deal to keep it off the record completely when he changed his identity."

"What is it?" Shepard asked.

"His biography, so to say." Shepard read the data pad and was surprised at what he read. Apparently Auron's real name was Daylen Linron! A member of the largest house on Sur'kesh; he was put in the upliftment department where he and his team traveled to the Yahg home world for study. He was recorded as being against the project and eventually went AWOL after releasing one of the Yahg kept for study and stealing approximately 30 million credits from his house. Since then he had been placed under the Salarian's most wanted list and had been hunted for years until he finally went off radar.

"Now a requirement for your new knowledge of my client is that you tell no one of this, otherwise the Salarians may consider your future profits theirs and try to claim it from you." Lorik began collecting the papers from the table and put them in his briefcase.

"If there isn't anything else I must be off, I have my respects to pay." Shepard walked Lorik to the door where he thanked the Turian before shutting the door on him.

"I never would have guessed Auron had that kind of money, or that I never heard of his crime against the Salarian government," Liara said in surprise.

"Just goes to show you how little you know a person," Shepard announced as he took a seat on the couch. He sighed as he put his head in his hands; it wasn't long until he felt Liara's presence besides him.

"Are you ok?" She asked worriedly.

"Yeah just… overwhelmed, I guess," Shepard announced. "I can't believe that Auron left us all of that,"

"I know, it's an impressive amount for a rogue Salarian," Liara complimented.

"But I'd trade it all to have him back," Shepard said sadly. Liara kissed him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"So would I John, so would I,"

AN: Hey guys thanks for reading, now that you have a bit of a backstory on Auron's past let me know if you want me to write that as a prequel story, let me know and I'll begin work on it. Please review, you guys know I live for those, and I'll have the next chapter updated ASAP, so until then.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 40: A Jaw Breaking Distraction

Shepard had been watching television when he received a call from someone on Tuchanka, when he answered it he was both surprised and happy to see Wrex on the other end of the call.

"_Shepard, it's been awhile hasn't it?" _The leader of the Krogan asked in a gruff but friendly tone.

"It definitely has Wrex," Shepard said happily as Liara walked into the living room, smiling at Wrex's image on the holo pad.

"Wrex! It's been too long," She said excitedly.

"_It's good to see you again Liara, glad to see you haven't left Shepard yet," _Wrex said with a chuckle.

"So to what do we owe this pleasant surprise?" Shepard asked curiously.

"_Well after enough of butting heads with the Council they agreed to make Kowlu an official sport!"_ Wrex said excitedly.

"Kowlu?" Shepard asked confused.

"It's a lot like the Earth game football, but it's more dangerous and most contenders either end up dying or get severely injured," Liara explained.

"_And the best part is the Primarch made up a Kowlu team for the first inter galactic Kowlu tournament; we're hosting it here on Tuchanka."_

"So what do you want me to do, play in the games?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"_Nah they'd snap your spine in an instant, no just come on down and enjoy the games with us. Grunt will be there to."_

"Gee I don't know Wrex," Shepard started out before Liara interjected.

"That's sounds like an excellent idea Wrex," she interrupted happily.

"It does?" Shepard asked in surprise.

"_It is?"_ Wrex asked in a similar tone.

"Of course, he's been cooped up in the house for the last three weeks, he needs to go out and do something." Shepard looked at Liara in surprise before finally shrugging and looking back toward Wrex with a smile on his face.

"I guess I'm going to Tuchanka," he said pleasantly.

"_Excellent, the games start in about a week, I'll meet you at the port when you land in a few days,"_ After they said their good byes and Wrex hung up the call Shepard turned to Liara suspiciously.

"Do you really want me to go Tuchanka, or is this just to get me out of the house so your boyfriend can come over?" Liara hit his chest playfully as she sat on his lap.

"John it's been almost a month since Auron died and I'm worried you're becoming a shut in," Liara admitted. "You haven't left the house in weeks and, I didn't want to tell you, but I think your putting on a little weight." Shepard frowned and looked down at his stomach as he put his hands to it, he could feel a set of hard well-toned abs beneath his shirt and knew if he took his shirt off the sight would be rewarding.

"Look if you want me out of the house just say so, you don't need to call me fat," Shepard pouted.

"I want you to go out and have fun with Wrex and Grunt for the week,"

"What about you and Benezia?" Shepard asked.

"We'll go visit my father and sisters for a few days; it's been awhile since we've seen them." Sighing Shepard nodded in defeat as he pulled Liara tighter to him.

"Alright you win, I'll go to Tuchanka and watch Krogan legally kill Turians," Shepard said in mock defeat.

"Good," Liara said as she kissed him passionately on the couch. As this continued Liara pulled away from Shepard and smiled provocatively. "But before you leave, I'm going to have to give you something to remember me by," she said as her eyes began to turn black.

"Please do," Shepard begged suggestively.

The next day Liara, Benezia and Shepard were at the Armali space port saying their good byes.

"Bring me back a present Daddy," Benezia asked as he held her in his arms.

"Absolutely princess," Shepard declared as he kissed his daughter on the cheek. As he hands his daughter to Liara he pulls her in to passionately kiss her good bye, when they finally separate they look into one another's eyes lovingly.

"I'll miss you," Liara whispered.

"I'll miss you to," Shepard whispered back as he put his forehead to hers. "Promise not to find another man while I'm gone?" he teased. Liara giggled as she nodded her head.

"Deal, just come back in time this time, we don't want another Mindoir to occur." As the couple laughed the crew for Shepard's flight began their finishing procedures as the ship powered up.

"I have to go, I love you both," he said while kissing Liara again.

"I love you to Daddy!" Benezia called. Shepard kissed his daughter's forehead before heading towards the ship.

"Take care of your mother Benezia," Shepard instructed as he boarded the ship.

"I will!" the toddler called back. His family waved to him as he boarded the ship and it quickly ascended into Asari space where it's a two day flight to Tuchanka would begin. It was an uneventful flight and Shepard was forced to take a civilian shuttle to Tuchanka, due to both Garrus and Kaidan being away on business and his unwillingness to pull a ship from the Fourth Fleet in case either Cerberus or the Yahg suddenly attacked, so he took an almost empty cruiser to Tuchanka. The only other passengers were a bonded couple consisting of an old grizzled looking Krogan along with an Asari who seemed to be at least at the early stage of her Matriarch stage. By the time Shepard had finally reached Tuchanka he sighed in relief after watching continuous foreign films for the trip, Shepard would have to remind himself to call Tali and tell her to put more human movies on the space vessels. When he exited the ship he immediately saw Wrex standing there but it was one of the rare times he had seen him without armor. He was wearing what looked like a red shirt that covered everywhere his armor normally would.

When the Krogan saw his friend he happily pushed everyone out of his way to embrace his friend.

"Shepard! It's about time you came back to Tuchanka,"

"Well I've been busy lately," Shepard admitted.

"Yeah, sorry to hear about your Salarian," Wrex said in an almost a gentle tone.

"Thanks," Shepard said.

"Well no point moping about it now, come on! We've got games to prepare for!" Shepard followed Wrex towards his sky car where the duo drove through what was the new capital city of Tuchanka, Urdnot city.

"Each major city is named after the major clans, and those former clan leaders are the ones in charge of negotiations when the Krogan meet to discuss political or military matters," Wrex explained.

"So things have been progressing well then?" Shepard asked.

"Absolutely," Wrex said proudly. "We no longer have to rely on the Quarians for ships anymore either, we're able to build and pilot our own now, along with our new science division. We're not as advanced as the Salarians but most people won't be able to get away with calling a Krogan ignorant anymore."

"Any projects the galaxy should be worried about?" Shepard joked casually.

"Oh yeah Shepard, by the time the Krogan are ready we'll be prepared to conquer the galaxy," Wrex said in a deadly serious tone. When Shepard turned to him in shock Wrex burst out laughing as he continued to drive towards their destination. "I can't believe you fell for that Shepard," Wrex said while chuckling.

"Well as long as you don't try to conquer where ever I'm living I'll just pretend it's not happening," Shepard joked.

"While normally people would worry about Krogan expansion we're prepared for what's to come," Wrex assured him. "The planets we were returned are being worked on constantly to make them more habitable for my people."

"Have you been colonizing any of the former Rachni worlds?" Shepard asked.

"Not yet, we don't want too much land and then not know what to do with it. But we've sent out scouting parties to see if there are any natural resources we can use, then we send an extraction convoy to take what we need and return to Tuchanka." Finally Wrex pulled up into a house that seemed rustic but was still quite large; as they proceeded a herd of Krogan children ran towards Wrex."

"DADDY!" they all screamed as they jumped onto him, even though they had grown considerably since Shepard had last seen them Wrex showed no signs of minding having his large children jumping on him. Bakara came out after them where she greeted Shepard warmly.

"It's good to see you again casually Shepard,"

"Likewise Bakara, how are things within the council?"

"Valern died several months ago and was replaced with a minor Dalatrass from Sur'Kesh. It is unfortunate; out of the entire original councilman he was the only one who was open to the thought of Hackett and I on the Council. But aside from that little has changed. The Council still refuses to show respect to myself and Hackett, believing they to be more superior to us."

"If they keep this up its going to put tension on them from the Krogan and Human races," Wrex warned worriedly as his children continued to cling on him. "Things are pleasant now but I'm not sure how long it will last if they continue to treat us as second hand citizens.

"Surely the world leaders wouldn't permit that of them, especially the Primarch I would think," Shepard reasoned.

"I've spoken with the Primarch several times to complain about Sparactus. He's assured me that every time he's spoken with him the Councilor has said he's been nothing but fair." Wrex scowled at the mention of Sparatacus's bull shit. "When I told him he was lying he told me he'd have one of his most loyal Spectres observe the Councilor and keep him posted.

"Garrus?"

"Doubt it, he's been gone for a long time on business. Haven't seen him in years." Before Shepard could say anything he heard the approach of another sky car from behind, when he turned around he smiled when he saw Grunt and his family exiting the vehicle.

"Shepard!" Grunt said excitedly as he slammed Shepard's shoulder in a friendly (yet still painful) greeting.

"How've you been Grunt? It's been awhile," Shepard said happily.

"You know me Shepard, nothing new. Just been training the whelp to be a soldier," he said pointing to his son, who was now out of the car besides his mother. Shepard couldn't help but notice that even though the young Krogan was at least a year older than most of Wrex's kids he was surprisingly smaller. When he whispered this to Grunt the Krogan sighed regretfully.

"Unfortunately he's a runt, but he's a quick study. I only have to teach him something once and he has it memorized, same with Nova's lessons as well." Shepard was surprised by a roar behind him, when he turned he realized it was Wrex scaring his children off of him.

"Time to eat!" Wrex said happily as if he had never roared to begin with. Soon the two Krogan families and Shepard were sitting at what appeared to be the kitchen table piled high with meats that Shepard had never seen before. As he took his seat in between Grunt and Wrex he eyed the food wearily before Wrex gave him an assuring nod.

"Not to worry Shepard, you won't get sick from eating anything. Bakara and I made sure of it, although it may return some of your muscle back. Since you've gone soft and all," Wrex said with a chuckle. Shepard stared at Wrex with a smile as he pulled what seemed to be a leg off of what was once a bird.

"If I'm soft what does that make you Wrex?" Shepard asked. "Jell-O?"

"What the hell's Jell-O?" Wrex asked confused.

"Never mind," Shepard sighed as he took a big bite into his leg. It was juicy, savory and very delicious. "What is this?" Shepard asked curiously as he continued to eat.

"I'm not really sure," Wrex answered. "It was a giant bird on the Raloi home world, they hired Aralakh Company to clear out an 'infestation problem'," Wrex said digging into his own leg. Grunt who had already picked clean two wings. Belched loudly (earning him laughs from the children) before looking down to Shepard.

"The damn things were almost as big as our ship, tough and mean. One of them nearly flew off with Kroll and Skrawl before they shoved a grenade up its-"

"Grunt!" Nova interjected sternly.

"What?" Grunt whined.

"Not in front of the children," she drawled as she continued to eat. As Grunt grumbled Wrex finished the story.

"So anyways these birds were proving too much to handle so they called us to send them a message. Since they didn't have any credits to pay us with they promised us rights to some of their natural eezo and as much of this bird meat we could carry. Which is enough to feed Tuchanka for a while," Wrex said while looking at Shepard's questioning stare.

"So are the Raloi apart of the 'Galactic Community?'" Shepard asked after finishing his leg.

"No," Bakara said simply. "Since the Raloi abandoned us during the Reaper invasion there have been feuds held whether they should be welcomed back."

"Why'd they pull out?"

"They didn't have any kind of army," Wrex said disapprovingly. "They only met with the Asari by chance; they didn't have more than a handful of space ships and one satellite. When they heard the Reapers were coming they pulled out and destroyed their ships and satellites, holed up until the war was over."

"Well that's not their fault that they couldn't help," Shepard argued.

"That's true, which is why most of the Councilors believe in bringing them back, only Tevos and the new Salarian Councilor are dragging their feet on the matter."

"Gotta love politics," Shepard said as he dug into a wing.

"Try being mated to a politician," Wrex muttered sheepishly while Bakara rolled her eyes and shook her head. When everyone had finished eating the Wrex's kids had gone to be while Nova and Shepard left to return to the female camps. Bakara went inside to go to bed while the men all sat on the Krogan equivalency of lawn chairs atop of Wrex's house watching the sun set while drinking a few beers.

"The games begin tomorrow Shepard," Wrex said excitedly. "You're gonna love it!"

"Hopefully the home team snaps a few Turian necks," Grunt said excitedly.

"We can only hope," Wrex said tapping bottles with Grunt. It was then that the old Krogan turned to look at Shepard besides him.

"You've been pretty quiet tonight Shepard, something wrong?"

"No, I'm just… thinking," Shepard said.

"That's never a good thing," Grunt said while drinking his beer.

"What about?" Wrex asked curiously.

"Well… it's just that Auron's death got me thinking, I'm probably going to outlive almost everyone I know, how long can someone stand that?"

"Shepard human doctors might be pretty good but there's no way that you're going to live past 200, you won't be out living to many people." Shepard was about to argue when he remembered that he hadn't told Wrex or Grunt about his extended life span; he and Liara had agreed it would probably make some people uneasy if they knew. However he knew Wrex and Grunt, and they were like family. Plus aside from Liara they were the only others he knew who'd still be alive for the centuries to come. So he told them the truth about what happened after Javik had healed him, how he had sleeping biotic powers he couldn't control and about his extended life span. The two were silent, Grunt knew about the biotic powers due to the fight on the Normandy but this was still news to him.

"How's the whole ageing process work?" Wrex asked. "Do you age gracefully every few hundred years or at a human rate and end up a shriveled up old body."

"No clue," Shepard admitted as he continued to drink from his beer. "All I know is that there's a good chance it's going to be a lonely millennia." Grunt held out his drink and Shepard looked at him quizzically as they tapped bottles.

"You've still got me Shepard. You and I can grow old together and shoot at things until our fingers are too crippled to pull the trigger. At that point you may as well just kill me though." Shepard smiled as he nodded.

"I'll drink to that." Suddenly, as the sun had finally set surrounding the Urdnot City in darkness, Wrex shot up without explanation as he looked around warily.

"What's wrong?" Grunt asked as he stood up followed by Shepard. Wrex pointed up somewhere above the main city a good 20 miles away.

"You guys see that glowing light over there?"

"What light?" Shepard asked, cupping his eyes in order to improve his vision.

"There! Right, right there," he said trying desperately to point out the light.

"Old age has made you senile old man," Grunt said shaking his head and downing the rest of his beer.

"I'm telling you there's a light right fucking th-" Wrex was interrupted by a barrage of missiles being shot from the sky and razing Urdnot city. As the missiles fell approximately four large frigate class ships had dropped over the city while dozens of shuttles were launched from them and spreading out all of Tuchanka.

"What the hell's going on?!" Grunt demanded. Before anyone could respond Wrex's Omni-tool went off.

"Greighor! There better be a damned good reason for these people firing on my planet!" Wrex roared angrily.

"_The hell if I know, we were busy trying to stop a Dreadnaught from aiming at Tuchanka when a bunch of other ships passed our defenses!"_

"You mean to tell me they have a fucking dreadnaught aimed at MY PLANET!" Wrex roared angrily.

"_Our techs managed to hack their targeting system so the dreadnaught won't be firing any time soon, our fighters are working on taking it down."_

"What style of ship is it?" Shepard asked standing besides Wrex.

"_Salarian, and not the kind the Yahg stole," _the Krogan named Greighor answered_. "It's also been confirmed that Cerberus operatives are aboard the freighters in Tuchanka's atmosphere."_ Wrex roared violently seemingly causing the entire house to shake underneath him.

"**NO!** These bastards are **NOT** going to take us down. "Greighor I want that dreadnaught broken into and the crew killed, find whoever's in charge and bring them to me alive."

"_You got it Wrex,"_ he said before disappearing. Wrex then turned to Grunt; Shepard could notice Wrex's red eyes had gone harder than any kind of steel he'd seen before.

"Grunt, call Aralakh Company and have them meet us at the weapon storage base two miles from here."

"You got it," Grunt acknowledged as he activated his Omni-tool to make the calls.

"What about the civilians?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"Not to worry, there isn't a Krogan on Tuchanka who doesn't pack heat." Wrex assured him. "Now lets get to the car, we've got to lock and load."


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 41: Battle On Tuchanka; The World Loses a Legend

The way Wrex drove it only took them five minutes to reach his weapon storage base; thankfully the frigates bombing the city had avoided the area for the moment. The moment they went in they changed into their armor and began loading on their weapons. Thankfully there was an N7 armor set there for Shepard and several Alliance type weapons he was familiar with. As he finished suiting up he turned to look over at Wrex.

"Why do you have this place hidden?" Shepard asked.

"Bakara told me she didn't want me to keep weapons in the house until the kids got older," Wrex explained as he checked and loaded his Claymore. "So I started storing my weapons here a few years ago, now I'm glad that I'm a pat rat." Shepard could see that Wrex was furious and nodded as he continued adding weapons to his suit. By the time he had finished loading his Avenger assault rifle, two hand cannon heavy pistols, a spike thrower shot gun and a belt full of different kinds of grenades all of Aralakh Company had appeared outside the base. Wrex walked out like a man on a mission while Grunt and Shepard followed him out.

"Alright listen up!" Wrex shouted to the group. "For whatever reason the Salarians thought it would be a good idea to team up with Cerberus and attack Tuchanka," the Krogan before him growled angrily at that notion. "Well I'm here to confirm that it will be the biggest mistake of their short lives!" The Krogan all cheered at that. "We are going to storm through the major cities and rally everyone who wants to take back their homes from these worthless pyjacks and WE WILL PROTECT TUCHANKA!"

"YEAH!" All the Krogan cheered as they loaded and cocked their weapons.

"Now let's go show them why it's a crap idea to pick a fight with the Krogan," as the group of 30 Krogan and Shepard walked toward the cars Grunt's Omni-tool started to go off, when he answered it he looked at it in confusion.

"Nova? What's wrong what's going on?"

"_Grunt, oh thank the ancestors your alive! The female camps have been invaded! There kidnapping children and killing the women!"_

"What?!" Grunt said in shock, Wrex had overheard and was standing by. "Are you and Shepard ok?" Grunt asked worriedly.

"_For now, we've barricaded ourselves in the prayer chamber with more children and women, but we don't have any weapons and don't know how long the doors will last," _

"We'll be there as soon as we can, Nova I promise," Grunt assured her.

"_Please hurry!" _Nova said before ending the call. Grunt looked up to Wrex pleadingly who turned to the group of Krogan loading up.

"We need two men to come with us to the female camps," Wrex ordered. "The rest will head off to Urdnot city. So who's with me?"

"We'll go," Kroll and Skrawl said instantly getting out of the truck.

"Alright, the rest of you move out. And don't forget to blow those freighters us!" As several filled trucks of pumped up Krogan drove off towards Urdnot City Shepard, Grunt, Wrex, Kroll and Skrawl loaded into Wrex's car where they went off towards the female camps.

"It doesn't make any sense, why would the Salarians attack Tuchanka? Or even kidnap children," Shepard thought aloud as Grunt drove without care toward the female camps.

"Those aren't the right questions to ask right now Shepard," Wrex said coldly. The right questions to ask are how many Salarians are there and what do we kill them with?"

"My bare hands," Grunt growled angrily.

"We'll find them Grunt, don't worry," Wrex assured him.

"Was it alright for us to leave Bakara and the kids at home?" Shepard asked.

"They'll be fine, the house is too far out of the way and there's several trucks on the only path there blowing shit up. Plus Bakara can take care of herself," Shepard nodded as he cocked and readied his rifle. When they approached the camp something large was fired at them, and misses, as Grunt managed to swerve out of the way.

"Looks like they've dropped some tanks," Kroll said giddily.

"Tanks?" Shepard asked in disbelief.

"Yup, basically there Makos with less fire power but infinitely more precise," Wrex assured him. They continued to swerve as Grunt continued to avoid the enemy fire. As they approached the tank Wrex kicked open the passenger seat door and hung out of it while firing at anyone that was to close. Finally as they approached the tank Wrex leapt from the car and onto the tank, with a biotic pull he ripped open the door and pulled out the two Salarians manning it.

"Attack my planet will you?" Wrex growled as he held the Salarians from their neck. As he walked out of the tank the two Salarians were begging for their lives.

"Please don't kill us," one begged.

"We were only following orders!" The other insisted.

"That makes it ok to attack my people and kidnap our children?" Wrex demanded as the others appeared.

"You have to understand, Dalatrass Linron has been acting crazy since the Genophage was cured, and when Cerberus made her an offer she couldn't resist the chance."

"You could of," Wrex said as he tightened his grip.

"Have mercy," the second Salarian gasped.

"Kroll, Skrawl, weapons up!" Kroll and Skrawl raised their shot guns at Wrex's order.

"PULL!" he shouted as he threw one of the Salarians into the air. As he shouted in fear Kroll and Skrawl shot at him insuring his death before he hit the ground.

"Please don't kill me," the second Salarian begged.

"Tell me where the former Dalatrass is and I'll be merciful," Wrex suggested.

"She's on the dreadnaught, the dreadnaught! She wants to create a crater large enough to destroy Tuchanka's atmosphere for good! Now please let me go!"

"I said I'd be merciful," Wrex corrected as he snapped the Salarian's neck. As he dropped the corpse he contacted his space fleet who was still trying to break into the Dreadnaught.

"I want the Dalatrass on Tuchanka ALIVE to pay for her crimes against Tuchanka. That doesn't mean you can't injure her but make sure she's alivewhen you bring her back." As he turned to the others he pointed towards Kroll. "You know how to work a Salarian tank?" he asked.

"I'm a quick study," Kroll assured him.

"Get in, take out the other tanks." Wrex instructed, he then turned to Grunt Shepard and Skrawl. "We're heading toward the church to free the females, shoot anything that isn't a Krogan. Or Shepard."

"Sounds like a plan," Grunt growled as he cocked his weapon ready to fight. The four ran into the female camp and were soon met by elite Salarian guards and Cerberus troops and mechs. They also saw one of the freighter class ships grounded in the middle of the camp parked atop of several structures as Krogan children were escorted onto the ship.

"What's the plan Wrex?" Shepard asked as they ran towards the first crowd of Salarians. Wrex was glowing blue as he threw a singularity at the crowd, floating the Salarians effortlessly into the air.

"We're going to the prayer chamber first; with the building secured we can send the women and children there to get them out of the line of fire."

"Works for me!" Grunt shouted. He fired his Claymore at the floating Salarians killing them before Wrex ended his singularity and continued running towards what Shepard assumed was the Krogan's church. Grunt was able to charge past most of the Cerberus and Salarian soldiers but he froze when he was blocked from his path by two Atlas's. Grunt managed to jump out of the way just in time as both mechs fired missiles at where he was just standing. Before anyone could react two burst of refined, precise shots destroyed the front of the Atlas's shattering the glass and killing the Cerberus operatives piloting them. When Shepard turned around he saw a Salarian tank approach them as it ran over any enemy troops who were unfortunate enough to have been in the tank's way. As the tank passed them its horn honked in friendly passing as it continued its rampage over the Salarians.

"He is a quick study," Wrex said impressed as he looked over to Kroll's brother. Skrawl shrugged in amusement as he said, "Go figure." At that moment Shepard was running towards one of the now vacant Atlas's; as he entered he tossed out the corpse of the fallen trooper and situated himself to take control of the mech. As he went over the machine's kinetic barriers and weapon load outs Wrex and Grunt approached him curiously.

"Can you even drive that thing?" Grunt called out. Shepard responded by reactivating the mech and activating its barriers.

"Want to see me blow up a house?" Shepard asked as he moved the arms of the Atlas.

"Later!" Wrex called out seriously. "Right now head to the prayer chamber." Nodding Shepard advanced the Atlas behind the running Krogan where they came to a building with the doors (and parts of the wall) completely blown off.

"NOVA!" Grunt called out desperately as he ran into the building. "SHEPARD!" he called out just as desperately. As Shepard progressed towards the church he had the mech bend so he could look into the building, what he saw made him want to hurl. There were dead bodies, mostly Krogan woman with one or two armored Salarians on the ground with no sign of any Krogan children. Grunt was kneeling to the ground over one of the women, and Shepard's guess was correct in assuming it was Nova's body. Wrex approached him in what seemed as an attempt to console him, when he went to put a supporting hand on Grunt's shoulder the tank bred Krogan slapped his hand away. He got up from the ground with an angry and determination in his glare as he headed towards the door toward Shepard.

"We're heading to that freighter and killing everyone aboard it," Grunt announced in an angry tone.

"Grunt are you alright?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"Never better, now come on," Grunt demanded. As he went ahead Wrex walked up besides Shepard looking worried.

"It was Nova in there wasn't it?" Shepard asked worriedly. Wrex sighed and nodded.

"He's going to be like a rabid Varren in a nursery Shepard, we need to keep an eye on him," Wrex declared. Shepard nodded as he had the mech follow after the Krogan; Skrawl had run off to try to find any surviving females or to rescue any he could find. As Shepard and Wrex ran after Grunt they were met by corpse after corpse of mauled Salarians that had been in Grunts way; it didn't even look like Grunt had fired his shotgun once, it looked more like he had ripped them apart by the way the bodies were lying. As they finally began to close in on Grunt the freighter began to power up as it slowly rose into the sky.

"NO!" Grunt shouted angrily as he fired at the ship. Shepard checked the weapons systems on the Atlas and began preparing his assault. He aimed the right arm of the Atlas and from the mech's wrist a hooked spear fired towards the ship and pierced through the bottom of the ship's hull. As the hook's teeth expanded, bettering its hold on the ship. Shepard then transferred all remaining power in the Atlas into pulling the ship back to the ground, once the ship had finished powering up there was no was the single Atlas would be able to keep the ship grounded, but at that moment it was able to pull the ship down to the ground. Shepard put the Atlas on auto pilot as he jumped out and pulled out his assault rifle.

"We need to get those doors opened!" Shepard called out over the roar of the ships engine.

"Unless you have a bazooka on hand that's gonna be a problem!" Wrex yelled back.

"**ONE NEXT BEST THING COMING UP!"** The PA of a nearby tank called out. The trio turned around to see Kroll advancing forward aiming the tank at the freighter ship, within seconds its laser had reached full power and effortlessly blew through the hull of the ship several Krogan sized entrance holes.

"Well we have our entrance but how are we going to get up there?" Shepard wondered aloud. Suddenly Wrex began glowing blue as his biotic energy surrounded Shepard and Grunt.

"Going up!" Wrex shouted over the hum of the ship. Wrex managed to toss Shepard and Grunt into the ship just as the spear holding down the ship gave away, sending it spinning into the air as the pilots struggled to regain control of the ship. As Shepard and Grunt traveled through the paths of the ship in search of the kidnapped Krogan children and beating away any guards they found in their way. Finally they came to a heavily secured door guarded by half a dozen well-armed Salarians. As the two charged towards them the several of the Salarians sent out combat drones to intercept them, which Grunt managed to nullify by destroying the drones with a head lowered charge. By the time Shepard had made it towards the door Grunt had already dispatched the Salarian's guarding the door. As Shepard examined the door he noticed that there was a password/ key card port positioned besides the door.

"How are we going to get in?" Shepard asked.

"You really need to ask?" Grunt replied as he removed his Claymore from his back. He equipped a set of explosive rounds to the shotgun and encouraged Shepard to take several steps back as he fired at the door; each time a round hit a small hole was made into it until finally, after Grunt had emptied his gun, the door fell down into the room revealing the Krogan children restrained by high tech strait jackets that were keeping them held in place on the wall.

"Da!" a familiar accented voice called from within.

"Shepard!" Grunt shouted out in relief as he headed into the room. He hadn't taken more than a few steps when two swords came from nowhere and pierced through the front of Grunt's armor and out through the back followed by Grunt's immediate shout of anger and pain as he was forced to his knees. Suddenly, from within the confinement area, two Phantoms deactivated their chameleon cloaks and became visible to the wounded Grunt and Shepard!

"GRUNT!" Shepard called out as he ran towards his downed friend, as he tried to advance one of the Phantoms through a biotic throw at Shepard sending him flying into a wall where he hit his head hard against it. Grunt took the chance to force his body up, increasing his position on the Phantom's blades, in a desperate attempt to knock the Phantoms back. The Phantoms were caught surprised by the Krogan's sudden burst of energy but were able to keep their ground as they forced the swords farther into Grunts chest; however the Krogan didn't seem to be willing to give the Cerberus elite the honor of bringing him back to his knees and continued slowly pushing back against them as he steadily forced the Phantoms back. With a quick twist of their blades the Phantoms sent some kind of biotic pulse through their blades and into Grunt, causing the Krogan to shout out in pain as he was finally forced to the ground.

Unable to remain even on his knees from the attack Grunt was forced on his back where the blades made a sickening carving sound as they cut through skin, armor, and bone. Shepard watched in horror at the sight of one of his closest friends being carved like a turkey in front of him. Feeling anger he couldn't even describe he suddenly felt a foreign power coursing through his body, a power he hadn't felt in over five years. With renewed strength Shepard stood up and pointed a now green glowing hand towards the Phantoms. In an instant he biotically threw both of the Phantoms off of Grunt slamming both of them into different walls. He then threw a dark channel towards them both where it quickly ate through their barriers where Shepard soon found himself listening to the pained shrieks of the Phantoms. Ignoring the human's shouts of pain and torment he rushed to Grunt's side in an attempt to pull the swords out.

"There's no point," Grunt managed in a rough injured tone. He coughed several ounces of blood as he seemingly shook off his dizziness. "My body is already healing around the swords there's no way to pull them out right now. Just… free the children and land this damn thing!" he finally managed to shout as he pointed towards the restrained children. Shepard nodded and rushed towards the control panel where he immediately freed the group of children from their restraints. The minute the children's feet touched the ground one of the smallest ran towards Grunt.

"Da!" Shepard called out as he knelt beside his father. Shepard watched with a heavy heart at the display that was going on.

"Shepard what are you doing?" Grunt shouted. It took a moment for him to realize he had meant him and not his son. "Hurry up and land this thing before we leave Tuchanka's atmosphere," Shepard nodded and rushed past the worried and crying children along with his injured friend as he headed towards the cockpit. As he advanced towards the cockpit he heard the panicked voice of a Salarian over the PA.

"_Attention crew the Krogan have taken control of the dreadnaught! We have been ordered to land or are at risk of endangering the Dalatrass's life. Surrender, repeat all troops surrender!"_ The last word was said as Shepard broke through the door to the cockpit with a biotic warp. The pilot turned with a panicked look as he stood up with his hands in the air.

"P-please Admiral, I-I-I'm landing the ship now, p-please don't hurt me." Shepard stared at the Salarian for a few seconds before finally putting down his hand and ending his glow.

"Land this thing; we'll have the Krogan decide what to do with you."

Shepard ran back to the containment area most of the children had formed a circle around Grunt and his son, Shepard made his way to the middle of the circle and was distraught over Grunt's condition. He still had the Phantom's swords through his chest and there was a pool of blood surrounding him. His son Shepard remained beside his father not caring about kneeling in a pile of his father's blood. Shepard knelt down to Grunt and noticed that his breathing had become labored.

"Grunt, Grunt are you ok?" Shepard asked worriedly.

"B-Battle Master?" Grunt called out in a raspy voice. "Did you… blow his head off?" he asked. Shepard chuckled weakly as he shook his head.

"We won though Grunt, we'll be able to get those swords out of you and-"

"No," Grunt interrupted haggardly. "The swords… sent some kind of charge. I can't… can't regen my organs."

"Well that's not a problem we- we can get a transplant or something, we can try something!" Shepard insisted.

"Battle Master listen," Grunt insisted, apparently ignoring everything Shepard had just said. "Please… Nova's dead, and I… I can't feel my legs right now. Please… the whelp… watch over him," Grunt seemed to plead. He stretched out his hand clutching his blood stained Claymore and handed it to his Battle Master, shaking from the effort it caused him. John grabbed the shotgun and nodded, feeling the tears beginning to form in his eyes.

"I will Grunt," Shepard vowed as he clutched the Claymore in one hand and Grunt's hand in the other. "I'll raise him like he was my own," Grunt smiled at that and nodded his approval.

"Thank you… fath- ACCHKK" Grunt began to choke on his own blood as he tried his best to clear out his throat. Unfortunately after several seconds he moved no more. The perfect Krogan, the greatest creation of the Warlord Okeer and one of the most feared soldiers in the entire universe was dead. Little Shepard had tears flowing freely from his eyes as he buried his head into his father's chest, crying and calling out to his father begging him to come back.

Once the ship had landed it was immediately flowed with Krogan soldiers, medics and worried parents. Wrex was amongst the first of those to appear and froze in shock at the sight of Grunt and the two Shepards. He ordered his medics to grab Grunt's corpse while he lead the other two off the ship. John carried Shepard off the ship, the infant Krogan not having the strength to move on his own as they were rushed to a hospital to treat John and Shepard for any injuries. The next day Wrex had the Kowlu games canceled and instead held a memorial service for all the Krogan who had died the night before. It had been a surprise attack that none of them had expected; apparently the former Dalatrass Linron, who had been hiding out in the Terminus System, had been met with by Cerberus and asked her if she was interested on combining forces for an attack on Tuchanka. She agreed and called together her entire private army, easily measureable to an entire fleet of the Salarian army.

"Even with this combined union the Krogan rose VICTORIOUS!" Wrex declared over the silent mass of respectful Krogan. Even the Turian Kowlu team were bowing their heads respectfully, their respect for the Krogan increased after seeing them defend their home planet.

"But I fear that the loss was great," Wrex continued sadly. "Many good men and women died from last night's attack and many children have become orphaned. But this also sends a message to the other races." Wrex spoke now with renewed determination and a fire as he continued. "We have proven that even at our weakest we will not be taken down so easily. We were able to defend ourselves from a Salarian dreadnaught, a dreadnaught now in OUR possession; and we recovered ALL of the children they tried to kidnap. I don't know what it was Cerberus wanted in teaming up with the Salarians, but one thing was made clear last night. THAT THEY WILL NOT GET IT FROM THE KROGAN!" The crowd replied with an agreed cheer as the crowd Wrex had just pumped up quickly quieted down.

"And now, a moment of silence for the Krogan who fell in battle defending their home, children and people. May the ancestors welcome them with open arms." Everyone bowed their heads respectively at Wrex's words; Shepard also bowed his head while wearing his Admirals outfit and looked down at Grunt's son who was desperately trying to hold back tears. Shepard put a comforting hand on the young Krogan, causing him to look up at his namesake curiously.

"I know you think it's a sign of weakness to cry, but it's ok. Let it out." At first it looked like the little Krogan was about to refuse but something came over him and he put his head into Shepard's waist and wrapped his arms awkwardly around him as he cried. Shepard let him get it out of his system and after a few minutes the small Krogan finally pulled away.

"I'm sorry sir," he drawled sadly.

"You don't need to be," Shepard insisted. Wrex had finished his speech and was now gesturing for Shepard to follow him.

"I need to leave for a while, can you stay by Bakara until I'm finished?" the young Krogan nodded and went off in search of Wrex's wife. When he found Wrex they were going towards the prison located in Urdnot City.

"How's the kid?" Wrex asked.

"Devastated,"

"It's understandable, his parents just died," Wrex said bluntly as he continued walking without slowing his pace.

"Listen about that," Shepard started but he was interrupted by Wrex.

"Later, I need you focused for our high security prisoner."

"What's happened?" Shepard asked.

"I contacted the other councilors; at first they wanted us to hand over the Dalatrass into their custody."

"I'm guessing that didn't fly with you?" Shepard asked.

"I made it clear that if there were any direct attacks against the Krogan that we would punish them ourselves, the council agreed to this when we made the negotiations on Earth."

"So what did you have planned?" Shepard asked.

"Well we need to interrogate her first; if she worked with Cerberus she may have had contact with the Yahg as well.""

"You think she'll spill?" Shepard asked.

"Only one way to find out." At the end of a hall way there were two heavily armed Krogan guarding a door, at the sight of Wrex they nodded and allowed them entrance into the room behind them. Inside, handcuffed to the table, was the former Dalatrass of Sur'Kesh _and_ Auron's sister, Dalatrass Linron.

"It's about time we found you," Wrex snarled as he unlocked Linron's cuffs. "I was afraid that old age would have been the death of you."

"Don't bother trying to scare me Wrex," the Salarian ordered while rubbing her wrist. "You can't do anymore to me than you already have. Now deliver me to the Council so I can get off this radioactive rock pile." Wrex chuckled dryly as he shook his head.

"Oh you've got it all wrong. You're a prisoner of the Krogan now, and we have the right to do whatever we want to you,"

"By whose authority?" She demanded angrily

"By the Councilors of Citadel Space," Shepard said vehemently, causing the Dalatrass to notice him for the first time since he entered the room. "And as a Council Spectre I'm here to approve or disapprove of whatever punishment Warlord Wrex here deems appropriate."

"You expect this brute to give an appropriate punishment? He'd have me killed and decapitated to prove his kind can kill mine."

"Well right now I'm the friendliest Krogan you're ever going to see," Wrex assured her. "So I suggest you not spit on the hand that's going to sentence you."

"My people won't stand for this," Linron declared defiantly.

"They already did," Wrex declared throwing a data pad onto the table. "Full consent from the new Dalatrass to punish you however I wish, so long as you sorry ass isn't returned to Sur'Kesh. So the negotiations for your freedom are pretty slim." Linron scowled at the data pad before looking away.

"What are you going to do to me?" she finally asked in an almost meek voice.

"We have a few questions and you're going to answer them," Wrex told her. "Cooperate and I'll be lenient." Linron scoffed at the thought of a lenient Krogan but didn't voice her disbelief.

"Question 1: Why did you attack Tuchanka?" Wrex demanded.

"Someone from Cerberus approached me while I was in hiding and offered me the chance to wipe out the Krogan race. I accepted."

"Did you really think you'd succeed with so few men and ships?" Wrex demanded.

"We weren't expecting any resistance in space, the Dreadnaught was supposed to destroy the planet after we had taken your children."

"To do what with?" Shepard demanded. Linron smiled cruelly at Shepards question before answering.

"We were going to brainwash the children to become completely obedient to my faction of followers. Given a few years when they could breed they'd have been used as front line soldiers for future battles, doing the fighting that is too dangerous for Salarians, and besides whose going to miss a few Krogan anyway?" Shepard punched the Dalatrass square in the face knocking her out of her seat she spit green blood from her mouth as she looked to Shepard in shock by his action.

"You stupid Bitch!" Shepard said angrily.

"Wrex control your Spectre," Linron demanded. Shepard was about to hit her again when Wrex stopped him.

"She's right Shepard," Wrex said simply. As the Dalatrass was about to smile smugly Wrex punched the opposite side of the Dalatrass's face nearly knocking her into the wall. "I wanted the first swing anyway," Wrex said angrily. He approached the now trembling former Dalatrass and held her by her dress at eye level.

"I've told your people numerous times already, the Krogan are NOT yours to use anymore. If the Salarians so much as look at the Krogan funny it'll be war, understand?" Wrex demanded. Linron nodded panicked as Wrex dropped her to the ground.

"One last question," Wrex said as he headed to the door. "Did you come in contact with any of the Yahg?"

"We dealt only with Cerberus," Linron declared weakly. Wrex nodded and looked towards Shepard.

"Anything you want to add?" Wrex asked Shepard.

"Only a bullet hole," Shepard said angrily. This woman was nothing like Auron, they may have been related by blood but they were nothing alike. "Let's get out of here," Shepard declared. Nodding Wrex looked back toward Linron.

"You're going to be imprisoned on Tuchanka for the rest of your life, knowing that we're evolving into something better while your people suffer in a pool of their own blood, ironic isn't it?" Not waiting for an answer the two left the Dalatrass in her room as they left the prison and returned to Wrex's house. They were the only ones there at the moment as Wrex reached into a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of ryncol and two glasses.

"I'm telling you Shepard," Wrex said as he poured the drinks. "I thought you were gonna shoot her."

"I wanted to," he declared as he took a glass from Wrex filled with the clear liquid.

"A toast then," Wrex started raising his glass towards Shepard. "To not succumbing to our dark sides." The two clinked glasses and downed their drink. Shepard's insides burned from the Krogan drink but he shook it off as the two shouted loudly,

"KARBOL!" Wrex poured another round as Shepard raised his glass first.

"And another toast to Urdnot Grunt, the greatest Soldier I've ever known."

"Here here," Wrex agreed as they toasted their deceased friend. "By the way, what did you want to talk about?" Wrex asked.

"About Shepard, Grunt asked me to watch over him. I want to bring him to Thessia with me,"

"Probably for the best," Wrex answered quickly. "No one else would want him."

"Why not?" Shepard asked.

"He's a sterile child Shepard, and not like Grunt either. We're talking about a complete Genophage sterility plague in the kid, only thing he's knocking up is an Asari."

"And that's bad?" Shepard asked.

"Right now? Yeah. The Krogan want to breed strong children, they don't want to waste energy on a sterile child. We still haven't adopted that much into changing, focus on what's fertile and cast out the rest."

"So you wouldn't have cared for him?" Shepard asked.

"No I would have, but it'd have pissed people off. But I don't have to since you are. He's yours Shepard; I hope you're able to raise him into a fine young man."

"Thanks," Shepard said pouring himself another drink. "Now I just need to think of a way to tell Liara."

AN: Against popular belief I didn't die, I was just really busy this week and couldn't get to my computer. I'll try not to let it happen again, so until then.


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 42: Return to Thessia; The Growth of Clan Shepard

Liara sat worriedly on the couch in her home; it was late at night so Benezia was already tucked into bed. Liara had gotten a call from Wrex the day before and she was aghast to hear of the Salarian's joint attack against Tuchanka with Cerberus. While informing her that Shepard was ok there was another point to Wrex's call, he had wanted to warn Liara that Shepard would be bringing something back and that it would be up to him to explain. Liara knew that John would never bring anything dangerous into the house but for whatever reason she still felt uneasy about his return. His ship was scheduled to have returned to Thessia already so he should be home at any minute. As if thinking of him triggered something Liara jumped when she heard the key turning in the front door, as it opened Liara stood and sighed in relief as she saw John walk into the house.

"John, thank the goddess you're ok," Liara proclaimed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Shepard responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her in close to him. "I can't believe Dalatrass Linron tried to blow up Tuchanka!"

"She did," he said emotionlessly. "And even though she failed the Krogan want to blame all Salarians for the attack, Wrex has been able to stifle their anger but this attack killed five years of peace between the Krogan and Salarians." Liara sighed as she kissed John gently and pulled out of his embrace, still holding onto his hand.

"I'm just glad that you were able to come home," Liara said worriedly, tears starting to form in her eyes. "If anything ever happened to you-"

"You'd find who did it and destroy them with your mind," Shepard said with a small smile showing on his face.

"I'm serious John," Liara warned him. "You have a daughter now, we have a daughter now. We can't just run off into dangerous situations anymore."

"Your right," Shepard agreed. "Which is why I'm going to have a talk with the Council in a few days."

"What about?" Liara asked.

"Remember when that Spectre Shayera came to our house five years ago? Asking me to lead the Spectres?"

"John that isn't keeping out of dangerous situations," Liara said angrily.

"Listen to me," John said softly. "I already talked it over with Bakara and Hackett, it's a desk job. All I'm going to be doing is managing the Spectres; no missions, no going off planet for ops."

"And why are you taking the job?" Liara finally asked. She had calmed down but was still flustered.

"Because the Council has been doing a shit job of running the Spectres and you know it," John said simply. "The amount of Spectres we have are minimal, there aren't enough to send out on as many high risk missions that need completing. Garrus and Kaidan work nonstop to try to make a difference but it isn't enough. I intend to completely rattle the cage of how Spectres operate and initiate new members; and I think the galaxy is going to be a damn safer place because of it." Liara looked at him sternly for a moment before her gaze finally softened and she sighed in defeat.

"Alright John I'll support you no matter what you chose to do. As long as it's agreed that _you_ won't be sent on any dangerous missions."

"Of course," Shepard assured her.

"Good, now if there's nothing else you have to announce I have to tell you something."

"Well actually there is one other thing," John said shyly, actually looking away as he said it.

"What is it?" Liara asked worriedly.

"On Tuchanka… Grunt and Nova were killed in the attack. Shepard was orphaned."

"Goddess," Liara gasped putting her hand to her mouth. "That poor child." Shepard looked uneasily as he continued to look at Liara.

"Yeah, well, before Grunt died he told me to… watch over his son in his place."

"I don't-what are you getting at John?" Liara asked in confusion.

"He's sleeping in the car Liara; he's going to live with us from now on." Suddenly the warning Wrex had given her made perfect sense.

"John are you serious? How could you make such a decision without talking to me first?" Liara demanded angrily.

"Liara no Krogan family will take him in. Shepard is completely sterile and it's too soon for any of the Krogan to want to raise a sterile Krogan."

"What about Wrex and Bakara?" Liara suggested. "Surely they wouldn't have left him on the streets."

"Grunt asked _ME_ to take care of him though, not Wrex." Shepard argued.

"I can't even get you to take the trash out but you'll take in a Krogan infant?" Liara demanded angrily.

"Liara come on." Shepard said as he started to lose his temper. "He just lost his parents and he has no family. No one to care for him." Suddenly something clicked in Liara's mind as the anger quickly left her system.

"You see yourself in him, don't you John?" Liara asked softly. He didn't respond but he nodded gently. Liara sighed in defeat as she nodded her head. "Alright John he can stay, I guess we can't really send him away though can we?"

"Relax," Shepard said gently as he wrapped his arms around Liara again. "We already proved we're good at this parenting thing with Benezia right? I think we can handle another kid." Liara stiffened a little bit as she looked up to Shepard worriedly. Noticing Liara's discomfort he asked what was wrong.

"John… I'm pregnant," she said uneasily. Shepard stared at her for a few moments with bug eyes and a gapping mouth until he finally managed to shake himself back into reality and sputter out several words.

"How? When? Whose?" Shepard asked in shock. Liara rolled her eyes and walked back towards the couch.

"It's yours John; I'm offended that you still have to ask." She then turned around with a more sympathetic look on her face. It was before you left for Tuchanka, three days ago. It's still early, but I'm feeling some of the changes I had early on from our honey moon. I'm still going to the doctors in a few days but I'm positive that I'm pregnant." Shepard walked towards her and just sat on the couch.

"Wow," he said in a shocked tone. "You're really worked fast don't you?" Liara chuckled as she sat down beside him.

"So are we ok?" she asked.

"Of course," Shepard said immediately. "The house is just going to be a lot fuller from now on."

"Speaking of which you should probably bring Shepard inside, we'll tell Benezia about him and the baby tomorrow."

"You think she'll be jealous?" Shepard asked as he walked to the door. "She isn't going to be the center of attention anymore."

"I'm sure she'll adjust," Liara said with a smile. The next morning John and Liara had sat Benezia down and told her that from now on Shepard would be living with them and joining their family.

"Think of him as your brother Benezia," Shepard instructed. "You're to be nice to him ok?"

"But I thought I could only have sisters," Benezia said curiously.

"Well… we got a call from the stork and it looks like you're getting a baby sister to!" Shepard said with a smile.

"What's a stork?" Benezia asked confused. Before he had any time to explain Shepard came into the kitchen looking nervous at his new environment.

"Good morning Shepard," Liara said with a warm smile.

"G'mornin ma'am," Shepard drawled quietly as he took a seat on the opposite end of the table as the two Asari. John returned to the kitchen holding plates of food, he put a plate of fruit and pancakes in front of Liara and Benezia and a plate of ham and bacon in front of Shepard.

"I hope this is good enough Shepard, I didn't have any Krogan specific food in the house,"

"Thank you," the Krogan said softly as he slowly reached to fill his plate. John and Liara were both surprised to see Shepard eating with a fork and knife, most Krogan they had known simply shoved everything into their mouths without even caring what they were eating.

"So what do we call him?" Benezia asked pointing at Shepard.

"We call him by his name honey, just like we call you Benezia," Liara explained.

"But his name is a last name," Benezia argued. "Doesn't he have a first name?"

"Shepard is his first name," John explained simply. "Krogan don't get a 'last name' until they go through their Rite of Passage. Then they take the name of the clan they join."

"But I thought you said he was a part of our family, does that mean his name is Shepard Shepard?" Benezia giggled at that as she played with the fruit on her plate. The young Krogan looked away nervously as he tossed another few pieces of bacon in his mouth nervously.

"She does have a small point John," Liara said.

"Oh alright," John said with a sigh he looked towards Shepard and knelt on one knee. "From today on, until you take the Rite, your clan name is going to be Shepard. So what would you like to be called as your new name?" he asked gently. Shepard fidgeted before looking up to his senior.

"Krogan are named after our ancestors and battle masters, at least that's what Mum told me,"

"Do you know any of your ancestors?" John asked.

"Only my Da's father Okeer and he didn't like him very much." John nodded, he understood why.

"Well, the person who I considered my Battle Master was a man by the name of David Anderson," John informed the young Krogan.

"Was he strong?" Shepard asked.

"Oh yes, he was the only Admiral left on Earth to unite humanity when the Reapers attacked. Were you told about the Reapers?"

"Da told me of them, said they were powerful foes," Shepard said with a nod. "And this man survived against the Reapers?" he asked in awe.

"He not only survived but it was his plan to reach the Citadel and unite it with the weapon that destroyed the Reapers."

"Wow," Shepard said in awe as he looked at his elder with a new respect.

"I think that's a good name for you, a strong name that you can grow into one day." John said with a smile.

"I do not think I'm worthy of the name," Shepard drawled worriedly. John smiled and stood up from his kneeling position. He looked over to Liara who nodded encouragingly as he looked back to the young Krogan.

"From now on your name will be David Shepard, how does that sound?"

"I-I'm honored sir, thank you," the newly named David said gratefully. Shepard smiled as he put a comforting hand on the young Krogan's shoulder.

"Welcome to the family David."


End file.
